Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will appreciate that it is not the practice to detail in public the measures that are taken to protect the security of official and office holders’ communications, including those measures taken regarding mobile devices. This is a long-standing practice adopted for sound reasons of security.

In general, all users of official devices have a responsibility to exercise appropriate care and discretion in their use, and in the use of relevant communications services in line with the strong acceptable usage policies that are in place across all Government Departments.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) provides guidance on an ongoing basis to Government Departments on cyber security and the security of mobile devices. This guidance is based on risk assessments appropriate to the users’ circumstances and also to the circumstances in which the devices are used. This guidance is kept under active review by the NCSC.

The NCSC has recently advised Departments that official devices should not carry the application to which the Deputy refers except in circumstances where there is a business case for doing so. This is in line with the pre-existing acceptable usage policies with regard to the use of non-work related applications.