Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

None of them was recovered but none contained sensitive information so people need have no worries in that respect.

Encryption is an important aspect where information is being passed from one agency to another. Of all Departments, my Department is conscious that it holds personal information such as identity, PRSI contributions and claim activity. Some 6.8 million datasets are held by the Department of Social and Family Affairs for current and past recipients. Staff who wish to access information need a password, a personal account on a very secure network and authorisation from senior management. For inhouse and external information transfer, the best security measures in information technology are constantly reviewed. A senior unit in the Department monitors this.

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