Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 463: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he is satisfied that personal information relating to members of the public held on his departmental databases is safe from hackers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34281/07]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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My Department currently employs a suite of technologies aimed at ensuring that its IT systems and electronic data are protected against external attacks. Furthermore, my Department takes the view that ensuring high levels of information security is a task that requires ongoing and careful vigilance. To this end, my Department has recently completed a comprehensive information security review. The recommendations of this review were agreed by the Management Board and are currently being implemented as a departmental priority.

Furthermore, my Department is appointing an Information Security Officer who will focus on ensuring that best practice information security processes and technologies continue to be adopted. An external information security consultant will shortly be appointed and will provide ongoing expert advice and guidance both to the Information Security Officer and more broadly to my Department to ensure that risks to confidential or sensitive data are identified and managed appropriately.

My Department is taking an integrated approach to ensuring its data remains secure. While this takes into account the risks associated with malicious attacks such as hacks, it also incorporates broader steps to ensure that its IT systems and data are secured in a manner that minimises all risks. This involves raising awareness of data protection and information security throughout the Department and its Offices, the adoption of additional technologies which secure and protect data, and improving work practices and processes in order to take full account of the requirements of securing information and data.