IRC Statement- Smart Simple Data Incident
Posted: 17 September, 2021
The Irish Research Council is working with Smart Simple, the data processor which manages the application system on behalf of the Council, on a data breach incident after discovering a system configuration error late this week which granted unauthorised access to the system.
Upon detecting the error action was taken immediately to secure the system, which means that the data is now secure while we undertake necessary extensive investigations into the incident. Based on the information gathered to date, we know some personal details of applicants were able to be viewed by other applicants, including names and contact information. There is no indication that this data was misused in any way.
The incident has been reported to the Data Protection Commission. An incident response team is working to fully investigate the incident and enhance the safeguards to prevent any reoccurrence. We have rapidly but carefully resolved this issue on the system to enable us to continue to work and communicate with our stakeholders.
We will, of course, contact anyone affected in due course.
Any enquiries can be directed to dataprotection@hea.ie
Irish Research Council
