National Cyber Security Centre to get new 'emergency powers'
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Ireland’s cybersecurity agency is to get “emergency powers” to conduct surveillance on all Irish website traffic where there is a “pressing national security threat”, under proposed new laws.
Richard Browne, director of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said these powers would allow for “intrusive” monitoring of internet traffic in Ireland.
The cyber chief said these legal provisions are similar to sweeping surveillance powers French authorities introduced during the Olympics.
In an interview with the , Mr Browne said:
- The NCSC expects disinformation and foreign interference around the general election — with the issue being the “extent and the effect” of it, but added there was “very little” during the recent British general election as social media companies got better at taking this material down;
- There has been “a significant uptick” in foreign interference in Ireland in the last year and the seriousness of the cyber attacks is “ramping up”;
- Cloud computing is critical for Ireland, not least because critical infrastructure — including subsea digital cables, financial services and energy supply — is increasingly based in the cloud.
He said the NCSC, which sits within the Department of Communications, is part of a range of EU networks and has channels into Nato.
The NCSC is set for a wide range of new powers under the General Scheme of National Cyber Security Bill.
The complex legislation, which is 183 pages for just a draft bill, includes strong surveillance powers in cases of a national security emergency or looming threat.
The provision says the NCSC can seek emergency powers when it becomes aware of a “pressing national security threat” likely to undermine the security of information systems of essential services — including public and private entities. Mr Browne said:
The NCSC will be able to go to the High Court ex-parte (without anyone else knowing) and behind closed doors (no media or public) and seek to apply devices on public communication networks and data centres for a fixed period.
The High Court shall grant the request where it is satisfied the NCSC has grounds for believing there are “real and persistent risks to the security of the State” or to the integrity of public sector data, or to the continuity of essential services.
“That essentially means the entire Irish IP address space,” Mr Browne said. “They’re explicitly emergency powers. They’re subject to very heavy oversight.”
He said they were premised on some powers that exist in other European countries, such as France around the Paris Olympics.
“If we were to have, for example, a major sporting event of that kind or very heightened threat environment to the European level, and even more major European war, for example, that’s when we’d activate those powers,” Mr Browne said.
“What that is, is the power to monitor traffic on a national level in a much more intrusive way, looking for specific national security risks and issues ... not something you do every day.”