Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 October 2025
298. Deputy Naoise Ó Cearúil asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to confirm if any staff devices (laptops, phones, USBs) containing departmental information or sensitive data were reported lost or stolen in the past five years; the number of devices reported; the data risk involved; and the associated cost of mitigation. [54381/25]
View answerMy Department’s policy is that official data must be stored centrally in appropriate file management systems and that data should not be stored locally on end user devices such as Laptops or Mobile Phones. The Department secures all laptops with advanced encryption and employs multilayered security protocols on official devices to safeguard data. All mobile devices are managed using a leading Mobile Device Management product. In the event that a mobile device is reported lost or stolen, a device-wipe signal is sent to the device. Strict policies govern the use of USBs, including mandatory encryption.
These security measures and controls, supported by my Department’s policies in this area, ensures that the data risks involved are effectively managed and as such are considered to be low. The security mitigations, controls, measures, and policies have been implemented as part of an overall suite of enterprise security systems for all the Department’s data and ICT assets and therefore it is not possible to provide a cost for the specific mitigations indicated.
The table below lists the number of laptops and mobile phones owned by my Department, that have been reported as lost or stolen in each of the past five years.
|
Device* |
Lost/Stolen |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
Laptop |
Lost |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
|
|
Stolen |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Mobile |
Lost |
15 |
11 |
17 |
19 |
3 |
|
|
Stolen |
4 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
*USB figures are not recorded.
