Ireland’s Cyber Strategy
A cyberattack on a tech giant based in Ireland could have an “immediate” impact across the EU and even globally, according to the new national cyber strategy. This creates “elevated” security and economic risk for Ireland, meaning securing information networks and systems is “crucial” for the country’s continued economic development.
The National Cyber Security Strategy 2019-2014 says that six out of 10 Irish organisations have reported being hit by cybercrime in the last two years, at a loss of over €3m.
Under the plan, Ireland’s electoral system will be brought into the country’s designated Critical National Infrastructure, covering areas like voter registration and regulating online political advertising. The Minister for Communications, Richard Bruton, has said the Government's new cyber security strategy is focused on advancing the standards and protection against cybercrime, adding that cyberattacks like identity theft are "real risks" ...."Cyberattacks, cybercrime, and identity theft can wreak havoc in this connected world,”
The strategy states that, according to some estimates, Ireland is home to over 30% of all EU data, as well as being the EU headquarters of many of the world’s largest technology companies.
Minister Brutom said we have to make these companies and their data are protected to "the best practice standards" and to be vigilant around incidents and respond to them quickly. "We have to protect our infrastructures, our electricity systems, our energy system, our telecommunications system, our system of managing public services. These are crucial, that we protect them."
The ew national strategy also "links in with international information" to make sure we are aware of all the potential threats . The e strategy also recognises the work opportunities in cyber security with "a lot of people employed in the sector" and identifying the potential for research centres to be at the leading edge of this sector.
The strategy documnet says there is a “high-stakes technological arms race” between those attacking and defending information systems.
Computer security incident response teams within the Irish National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) have been significantly developed and now constitute “an expert unit with significant capacity”, assisted by the Irish Defence Forces and Police.
The Defence Forces will continue to play a “central role” in facilitating operations of the NCSC and that state-sponsored security and military organisations are targeting the IT systems of governments, financial services, and technology companies and pose a particular challenge.
Under the strategy, a public awareness campaign on cyber security and cybercrime prevention will run in the first quarter of 2021.
Brunton said according to an international evaluation of Ireland's cyber security, it has shown the country is performing strongly and "ahead of the curve in many ways". He said an advantage is having many people working in cyber security companies in Ireland so there is a "rich pool of talent" and being able to avail of that.
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