Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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948. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of individuals whose Tusla files were lost, either wholly or partially, in the HSE cyberattack of May 2021; and the specific cause of the data loss. [44768/24]

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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949. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of individuals whose Tusla files are unaccounted for by the agency. [44769/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 948 and 949 together.

Thank you Deputy for your questions in relation to the loss of files and the consequences of the criminal cyberattack on the HSE.

As you are aware, on 14 May 2021, the Health Service Executive (HSE) was the victim of a major ransomware cyber-attack which affected its IT systems. At that time, the HSE provided several IT services to Tusla. During the cyber-attack, some personal information belonging to a number of people who have been involved with Tusla services, and a small number of Tusla employees, was illegally accessed and data was copied. The Tusla Information and Communications Technology (ICT) department worked closely with the HSE and security experts to contain the cyber-attack. Tusla and the HSE were assisted by the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau, the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) and the National Cyber Security Centre to support the response. The Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) was also notified.

In total, Tusla notified 6,986 individuals of their data being illegally accessed and copied as a result of the cyber-attack.

No Tusla case files are unaccounted for following the cyberattack on the Health Services Executive in May 2021.

Due to the sensitive nature of the information Tusla is required to maintain, staff are familiar with Data Protection, systems are designed with it in mind and Tusla has an excellent record of transparency and cooperation with the Data Protection Commission.

More detail of the 14 May 2021 Cyber-attack on the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the impact on Tusla can be found on the Tusla website here: www.tusla.ie/dataprotection/