Over 120,000 HSE staff to get cybersecurity training
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HSE staff are to get cybersecurity training as they continue to work remotely due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
More than 120,000 HSE employees will get access to classes including Introduction to Cybersecurity, Cyber Security Essentials, and Introduction to the Internet of Things. Run by technology company Cisco, the courses are online only.
Shane Heraty, Ireland country director for Cisco, addressed the HSE Digital Academy Forum on Wednesday.
He told the : “The HSE is embarking on a process of digitalisation and the primary purpose of these courses is to empower HSE staff to come along on that journey, too. HSE employees can avoid falling victim to hackers.”
He said the courses were customised for the health sector, and work with a range of electronic devices already in use in hospitals. Patients, for example, share breathing or sleep patterns electronically with doctors, and these need to be secure.
Topics include data privacy and how to prevent hackers taking control of a system to earn a ransom payment.
In 2017, the HSE was one of many global systems attacked by hackers using the WannaCry ransomware. Just one Wexford facility was ultimately infected as warnings from the UK alerted Irish hospitals to the risks.
The news comes as new figures show that more than 10,000 close contacts of people with Covid-19 in Ireland were identified through their use of the Covid Tracker app.
Gar Mac Criosta, HSE lead on the Covid-19 app, told the forum it has been used by 1.31m people with an average of 200,000 checking in to note their symptoms daily since launch.
He said the code is now used in 10 areas including the North, Scotland, Gibraltar, Malta, Jersey, and the US states of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey.
“The New Zealand team launched Wednesday, it’s based on the Covid app. The New Zealand team said this is the best in class, the best contact tracing app. Their app is based on the code we released into the Linux Foundation,” he said.
The Linux Foundation Public Health supports open-source software for public health authorities fighting Covid-19.
Mr Mac Criosta said the app is now interoperable with 11 European contact tracing apps. This means Irish people using their app while abroad could receive close contact alerts if necessary and vice versa.
This does not apply in parts of the UK as Mr Mac Criosta said the system did not fit with their needs. It is interoperable with the Northern Ireland app.
He also spoke about privacy concerns, saying it was important to convince the public the app was safe to use.
Mr Mac Criosta said he began to think the public was more trusting of the app when satirical website Waterford Whispers poked gentle fun at people’s worries with this headline:
“Man Who Uses WhatsApp, TikTok, Google Maps, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook & Twitter Apps Has Privacy Concerns About Covid-19 App”.