Public body: The National Disease Surveillance Centre (NDSC) has become the first public body in the Republic to be awarded a certificate for the high standard of its information security.
International Standard (IS) 17799 is a broad-based standard that requires an organisation to address all aspects of information security including document handling and storage and the security of its IT systems.
The NDSC, which receives a significant volume of sensitive data, also had to show that its offices in Gardiner Street, Dublin, were secure and that its internal communication systems were robust.
The State's infectious disease statistics are collated by the NDSC; the new standard will assure health boards and hospitals that the sensitive information it sends to the statutory authority is secure and that confidentiality is guaranteed.
Increasingly, the NDSC shares information with its counterparts in Europe and abroad. These agencies are themselves approved to IS 17799 standard. A spokesman for the NDSC said: "It is vital that the data we hold on behalf of others is stored, processed and transmitted securely."
IT manager Myles Holden said that not alone was the NDSC compliant with the Data Protection Act but that it was striving to be "ahead of the game" in anticipating best practice in the area of securing sensitive information.
Just seven other organisations in the Republic have been awarded the IS 17799 certificate. They include the pharmaceutical company Wyeth Medica.