Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 389: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the number of and the records kept by her Department of attempted hacking or suspected cyber attacks or other malicious computer security breaches committed against her Department's computer systems. [1728/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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My Department's computer systems are protected by a variety of measures against hacking and malicious attacks and we make extensive use of the Government network to minimise the risk of threats from external sources. An incident reporting system is in place to monitor any interruption to computer services including security threats. There is no evidence that any interruptions have related to cyber or malicious attacks.

Firewalls, authentication devices and security software are employed within my Department and these systems are reviewed regularly to ensure industry standards are applied. Independent testing of the ICT infrastructure is performed periodically to ensure that existing security measures are functioning efficiently and effectively. As part of a security review in the context of the 2008 business plan, my Department is investigating the installation of an intrusion detection system to further enhance the current security measures.