Episode

Does Russia have access to Irish state passwords?

Podcast
In The News
Published
Jul 21, 2026
Duration seconds
1137
Processing state
not_requested
Canonical source
https://shows.acast.com/in-the-news/episodes/the-irish-government-agencies-using-russian-software-to-prot
Audio
https://sphinx.acast.com/p/acast/s/in-the-news/e/6a5e41858327d8bdc74df4b5/media.mp3
JSON
/v1/public/podcasts/in-the-news-4008521/episodes/does-russia-have-access-to-irish-state-passwords
Markdown
/podcast/in-the-news-4008521/does-russia-have-access-to-irish-state-passwords.md

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Summary

Employees of three key State agencies use a computer programme called Passwork to generate and protect their passwords. It’s a cybersecurity measure. But what they didn’t know, before it was revealed by The Irish Times, is that Passwork, which purports to be EU-based, has extensive links to a Russian company licensed by Russia’s security service. The agencies using Passwork are the Office of Public Works, the State Laboratory, which provides chemical testing and scientific advice to Government departments, and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), the agency tasked with, among other things, helping consumers stay cyber safe. It is unclear how many other Irish State agencies use Passwork. So what does it mean for State security? Who has access to these passwords? And what does the Russian owner of the Spanish-based company that sold the Passwork programme to the State agencies say? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.