Results 681-700 of 2,990 for speaker:Ossian Smyth

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: The €7 million is split differently from the way the Chair said. It is €5 million for capital spending and €2 million for current.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: I appreciate that the committee is trying to help me. We are all on the same page. We all want fantastic cybersecurity defences for our nation and we want them to be properly resourced. That is absolutely fine. What would help this discussion, however - this has been brought up by a number of Deputies and Senators - would be to have a broader accounting in respect of how much money is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: I am happy to do that work. I am interested. My thoughts over the past few months, when people were saying the money is wrong, were that I needed more information. I will do that work and come back to the committee with it. I will also come back to the committee in the coming weeks with the full report, again redacted. That will take a number of weeks.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: On the Deputy's point about whether there should be cybersecurity investment across all of Government and so on, I am looking to have that included as an objective within the national development plan, which is due to come out shortly. The Deputy also asked why it is not going to grow faster and why it is a five-year plan rather than a two-year one. The NCSC has been growing since 2018....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: I completely agree with the Chairman. I will also mention that the NCSC has developed standards in cybersecurity for public bodies. It is due to publish that within weeks. That will address the matter in question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: The CCDCOE in Tallinn is not a NATO facility. It is not under the NATO command structure but it is accredited by NATO. It has people in it from Sweden, Finland, Austria and Switzerland. It involves a number of nations co-operating, but it is not run by NATO. We have somebody out there. It is mostly a research facility. Due to the fact that international co-operation is so critical to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: The national security analysis centre is a co-ordinating body. The Deputy asked whether it is the place where the buck stops. The statutory responsibility still lies with the Garda, the Defence Forces or the NCSC, which is under the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, in each case. The national security analysis centre is a co-ordinating body.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: Correct.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: It is under the Taoiseach's Department.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: The Sensor platform is actually in full operation across Government. It needs legislation to be developed and that legislation is being drawn up. It is not as if there is no legislation underpinning cybersecurity in Ireland. We have the network and information systems directive, which is being transposed into Irish law, but we are bringing in additional legislation to provide a better...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: I expect it will be next year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: The 2017 attack on the NHS was the WannaCry virus ,which was not a ransomware attack. It did cause great damage to NHS systems. It also attacked the HSE and luckily the HSE was protected to the extent that much less damage was caused. On the question of centralised cybersecurity, the Senator was suggesting that every cybersecurity lead in every Department should report to the NCSC...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: They are supposed to report to the NCSC. I would tell any organisation that is attacked to look at the website of the NCSC where there is information on how to report an incident. To give the committee an idea of the volume, 3,000 such incidents were reported last year. That is to give the committee an idea of what is going on. What was Deputy Ó Murchú's question?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: We do want people to report what happens. We do not want them to pay ransoms because doing so only creates more attacks. That is the business model of the people conducting the attacks. I would ask anybody who is attacked to contact the NCSC for assistance. The staff at that centre have great experience dealing with people who have been attacked. The actions a company takes when it is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: I can assure the Deputy that we regularly talk to all of the major tech companies. We are in contact with them all the time. I will make sure cybersecurity is on the agenda for those meetings, but there is no lack of communication. Neither is there a lack of communication with small businesses. I meet all their representative bodies every quarter. Engagement is essential. We are the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: When we have public consultations on cybersecurity, they are the bodies that respond. There are often only one or two individuals who respond and all of the others are large corporate bodies, tech giants or whatever. They have a particular interest in this area. We have a co-operative, not a fractious or confrontational, relationship. We work with those companies because we have the same...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: That would be great. Thank you.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Fuel Poverty (28 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Senator Ahearn for raising these important matters. Government fully accepts that recent electricity and gas price increases will not be welcomed in light of the current economic environment. Increases to wholesale energy prices following rises in international gas prices have been the principal driver of these increases which have been impacting across Europe and are not just...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Fuel Poverty (28 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: Specifically on those questions, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, presented a list of risk factors, which I read them out. It also presented a prescription for a number of actions should be taken to mitigate this. It said that the risk of power outage is real but, with these mitigation measures, the cause for concern is far less. That is basically its option. The public...