Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 277: To ask the Minister for Transport the equipment and data that was lost or stolen from his Department in the past 12 months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46672/08]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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There have been nine instances of equipment being reported lost, missing or stolen from my Department in the past twelve months. These instances included five laptops and four Blackberries. Of these, four laptops and one Blackberry were subsequently recovered. One laptop and three Blackberries are still missing.

I have been assured by my officials that each incident has been investigated and that there is no evidence that any private or sensitive data was compromised as a result of these incidents.

All Departmental laptops are issued to staff with password protection enabled. Since October 2007, all data replicated from my Department's network to laptops is automatically encrypted. Mechanisms are in place to remotely immobilise and wipe any information on any portable data devices lost, missing or stolen from my Department.

There has been no other instance of data or equipment being reported missing, lost or stolen from my Department in the last 12 months.

My Department ensures that data security measures are regularly reviewed in the light of changing circumstances and that any appropriate measures identified are implemented in order to prevent risk to data.