Cyberattacks on elections 'could happen here' and 'once could be very bad news'

While voting is by pen and paper in most EU countries, including Ireland, computer systems are 'widely used' for voter registration and the compilation and transmission of election results. Hence, the need for a cybersecurity risk assessment before elections

Richard Browne, Director of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said: 'What we are guarding against is the potential for people or groups or States to interfere.' File picture: Larry Cummins

Art O’Leary recently met with his counterpart in the UK Electoral Commission. It was good timing from a security point of view as it had just emerged that the British body was hit by a cyberattack in 2021 and 2022.

That was according to an investigation by the British National Cyber Security Centre, which was able to attribute the attack to a Chinese State-backed cyber group.