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Mick O'Dwyer, legendary Kerry GAA manager and footballer, has died aged 88
LIVE: World leaders slam Trump tariffs as EU insists it's 'not too late' for negotiations
As it happened: Trump hits EU goods with 20% tariff and rails against foreigners 'pillaging' US
Laura Hutton/Rollingnews.ie
Data Breach
Irish Water 'tightened controls' after customer bank details were sent to the wrong people
The utility claims in records released under freedom of information that ‘extra staff training’ was instigated at no cost following the data breaches in March 2015.
IRISH WATER BELATEDLY instigated a ‘tightening of controls’ and implemented extra training for staff in the wake of customer data breaches at the company earlier this year.
The information has come to light as a result of records released under freedom of information.
The incidents occurred in March 2015 and involved up to 15 customers’ bank details being sent to others without their consent. The details were addressed to either the wrong names or the wrong address entirely, in acknowledgement of a received direct debit mandate.
Irish Water reported the incidents to the Data Protection Commissioner at the time. The Office of the Commissioner replied to say that given the remediation steps being taken to correct the situation, and assuming that all those who received letters in error had been instructed to destroy them, the Commissioner was happy to conclude their investigation.
The entire process from report to conclusion took three days between 27 and 30 March this year.
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Remedies
The utility has implemented a number of remedies in order to prevent such breaches from occurring again.
Direct debit details are no longer accepted by phone to reduce the possibility of human error, while the system the company uses to verify that the correct address corresponds to the correct name and details has been honed.
Similarly, certain administrator’s rights have been removed from company’s workers’ profiles to prevent them amending customer details on the system.
“These improvements were made in day to day operations and did not involve any additional costs,” a spokesperson for the company told TheJournal.ie this afternoon.
Irish Water has been beset with teething problems as regards their customers’ bank details and direct debit mandates. The problems are a headache the company could certainly do without given its fractious relationship with the public as a whole.
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What a brilliant out of the box idea – where they whole world is turning extreme right it’s refreshing to see the possibilities to be had while providing a service to African countries. We get bashed from pillar to post by politicians and inquiry after inquiry and sometimes lose track of what makes Irish people great.
@Paul: So a good news story about an African country gets dragged down by someone virtue signalling their hatred of all things right wing. IMO it’s a great story as it shows what people can do for themselves if given the help and resources to get started, One needs seed capital to participate in capitalism, these credit unions appear to be doing the right thing in getting economic activity going. Like many in the West they too wanted and have opted for change in government, here’s hoping the new guy can govern well and support these business people.
@Paul: Capitalism at its best, private individuals and organisations taking matters into their own hands instead of waiting for the government to do something about it.
My Dad worked with the Irish League of Credit Unions in the Gambia to help train local people and set up Credit Unions in 1998 and again in 2000. I’ve sent him this link. It’ll make his day.
Mick O'Dwyer, legendary Kerry GAA manager and footballer, has died aged 88
58 mins ago
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Live Blog
World leaders slam Trump tariffs as EU insists it's 'not too late' for negotiations
Updated
39 mins ago
6.7k
As it happened
Trump hits EU goods with 20% tariff and rails against foreigners 'pillaging' US
Updated
10 hrs ago
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