Written answers

Wednesday, 30 January 2008

Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources

Departmental Properties

8:00 pm

Photo of Ruairi QuinnRuairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 1445: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the number of Department owned computer desktops or laptops or other data devices, such as blackberries and memory keys, reported lost, missing or stolen from his Department in each year from 2002 to 2007; the number of these that were later recovered or found; the number still missing; if any sensitive or private data were compromised; the measures in place within his Department to secure such portable or at risk data devices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1509/08]

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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There have been no reported losses of desktop PCs or memory keys in my Department over this period. The number of laptop PCs and Blackberry devices lost in the same period is shown in the table below.

YearLaptopBlackberry
200200
200340
200400
200540
200610
200711
Total101

Laptop devices are accessed via a strong password (a combination of any three from uppercase, lower case, numbers and wildcard characters such as "^" or "&"), which are tied to the users network login and changed every 30 days. The password is required on start-up and after fifteen minutes of inactivity. Blackberry devices lock and require a password to reactivate after ten minutes of inactivity. They can also be wiped clean from within the management software.

There have been no reports that any sensitive data has been compromised by these losses. The level of personal information relating to members of the public processed within my Department is very small. The level of safeguards set for these devices has historically been considered appropriate for the type of user and the sensitivity of the information that might be contained on them. The desirability of additional safeguards will be considered as part of the annual ICT security review.

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