James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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61. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he is satisfied that the National Cyber Security Centre is sufficiently resourced to deal with the number of potential treats to networks and information security here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52782/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Government fully recognises the critical importance of protecting the State against cyber security threats and has invested heavily in recent years in strengthening the State’s capacity in this area. The annual allocation for the National Cyber Security Centre in 2018 is €4m, including pay and other expenditure.

Additional recruitment was undertaken in 2018 and is ongoing and it is anticipated that the National Cyber Security Centre will have almost 30 staff by the end of the first quarter next year. These specialist staff have a wide range of skillsets in cyber security, including in areas such as cryptography, malware analysis, software development and cyber security compliance. My Department is currently undertaking a major review and restatement of the 2015 National Cyber Security Strategy. It will take account of heightened threats, new responsibilities, and the need to develop new skills and wider engagement internationally. The Strategy of the national centre will come up for review in that context.

The National Cyber Security Centre has developed significant capacity in recent years, including a resilient independent infrastructure and secure email and file storage, and has developed an automated incident response platform enabling incident responders to investigate, collate and track incidents on an ongoing basis. The Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) within the National Cyber Security Centre received its international accreditation in 2017.

The National Cyber Security Centre has also established a Threat Sharing Group and developed an Advanced Persistent Threat Group analysis and tracking system and an Advisory System. The Advisory System has over 130 members including Government Departments and Agencies, the Financial Sector, Critical National Infrastructure providers and other Operators of Essential Services.