Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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127. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if his Department has taken any action to address the heartbleed bug; if his Department has any strategy to protect State assets from cyber attacks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19943/14]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I understand that the Deputy is referring to a recently discovered software vulnerability commonly used in open source software for secure on-line communications. The disclosure of this software vulnerability has had global implications. After this vulnerability became publicly known on 8 April last, the National Cyber Security Centre located in my Department prepared an advisory doucument that advised Government Departments on the detail of the vulnerability and measures to mitigate the risks associated with it. This advisory contained technical advice, including suggestions on how to check if IT systems had this vulnerability and if so on how to update the relevant software and security arrangements so as to remove its effects.

My Department has set up a senior managers forum across all Government Departments to coordinate Departments' approach to computer security. My Department has also organised and delivered cyber exercises across all Government Departments and critical infrastructure providers in the energy and telecommunications sectors to test and coordinate responses to cyber security challenges. This is an ongoing activity which takes into account the ever changing nature and challenges associated with computer security. For reasons of operational security, it would not be appropriate to provide any further details regarding this matter. My Department is also working on the preparation and publication of a strategy focussing on improved protection and resilience of IT infrastructure used by Government Departments. I expect that this strategy will be published later this year.