Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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560. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if there is a policy of data back-up in the operations of his Department and all agencies under his remit. [28112/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Department implements a security-by-design and defence-in-depth approach to IT security and for the agencies that it carries out services for. The Government’s services are still actively involved in managing and remediating the recent cyberattack on the HSE. Our technical staff continue to operate and monitor all relevant systems to the highest levels, and are closely engaged with experts in the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to ensure that we follow best practice as it relates to all aspects of IT security.

For operational and security reasons, we are advised by the NCSC not to disclose details of systems and processes which could in any way compromise those efforts. In particular, it is not considered appropriate to disclose information which might assist criminals to identify potential vulnerabilities in departmental IT security arrangements.

Therefore, it is not considered appropriate to disclose particular arrangements in place in relation to IT security tools and services including those in relation to back-ups and the Department does not comment on operational security matters.