Department of Housing to send fake phishing emails to staff to see if they fall for scams

It comes a week after the HSE published an independent report into the cyber attack that crippled its network earlier in the year.

The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is seeking to train around 1,700 of its staff on a cyber security awareness programme, which will involve sending simulated phishing emails to see if workers fall for a bogus scam.

It is seeking contractors to provide training software for staff to ensure that they have sufficient knowledge to protect the department from cyber security threats that could target its infrastructure or data.