Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 16 October 2024
142. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of data breaches experienced by his Department in each of the past ten years and to date in 2024; if a breakdown will be provided on the nature of the breaches; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41737/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force on 25 May 2018 and my Department began recording data breaches from that date. The following table outlines the number of data breaches per year.
|
Year |
Total |
|
2018 |
0 |
|
2019 |
12 |
|
2020 |
7 |
|
2021 |
10 |
|
2022 |
19 |
|
2023 |
25 |
|
2024 (to date) |
27 |
The nature of these breaches fall into the following four broad categories and the number of breaches are shown alongside:
• personal data being shared accidentally with unintended recipients (67)
• the loss or theft of laptop, phone or other device (19)
• accidental exposure / potential exposure of personal data to unauthorised persons (13)
• systems being compromised (1)
All breaches are dealt with in line with my Department’s Data Breach Management Policy and the requirements under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The majority of personal data breaches identified by my Department are unlikely to result in any risk to individuals and, in accordance with Articles 33-34 of the GDPR, do not require notification to the Data Protection Commission. There were eight occasions where some level of risk was identified and the Data Protection Commission was notified.
