Professor Thomas Acton:

There was a great example earlier with regard to whether a person clicks on a link. This is a particular vulnerability and weakness. One of the things we have been trying to do at the University of Galway is to liaise with industry to see what skills are needed when we put together new programmes. Clearly we want to create good pathways for students. It is of mutual benefit. Something we notice in this is there is a massive gap about awareness, which Mr. Hyland mentioned early in our discussion today. We see this gap in SMEs. While larger technological companies have a high level of awareness of cybersecurity it is not necessarily tied to a high level of preparedness and resilience. Nevertheless there is a high level of awareness. We see a huge gap in SMEs. Small companies see this as being nothing to do with them. This is incredibly worrying. Because of this gap among businesses in the sector, we need bodies such as Enterprise Ireland to be involved. It makes sense that we try to inform SMEs, pull in their skills, mix them with bigger companies and get them together in various forums to spread their knowledge because it benefits everybody. Weaknesses in this regard are like a leaking bath. They create a message external to Ireland that perhaps we are not robust. This is a significant danger in terms of continued direct investment, as was mentioned earlier.