This is a best prospect industry sector for this country. Includes a market overview and trade data.
Last Published: 8/6/2019

Overview

The $300 million Irish market for cybersecurity solutions and services is extremely vibrant and U.S. vendors have a strong presence.  Reported economic crime and fraud in Ireland has increased significantly in recent years and cybercrime is considered the most disruptive economic crime facing the business community going forward.  With its large $14 billion digital economy, Ireland is increasingly encountering cybersecurity threats that have led to a strong upsurge in spending on cyber security in both the public and private sectors.

Following the successfully September 2018 transposition of the EU’s Network Information Services (NIS) Directive into Irish law, the Irish government plans to publish its new National Cyber Security Strategy by September 2019.  In addition, Ireland’s CS-IRT (Cyber Security Incident Response Team) - the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) - has received increased funding in recent budgets that will facilitate the provision of suitable expertise for businesses and individuals, as well as rapid response to major incidents.

Leading Sub-Sectors

Ireland’s $14 billion digital economy comprises some 100,000 digital companies including major U.S. firms and a growing SME community.   Ireland also has 53 data centers with Hyperscale (Amazon, Facebook etc), being the dominant datacenter type accounting for 72% of capacity.  Further datacenters are planned in both the hyperscale and colocation segments.  The Government is implementing its digital transformation agenda to move more public services online, thereby increasing the need for the data of citizens to be protected. 

Both the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Network Information Services (NIS) Directive are driving future spending on cybersecurity as companies, digital service providers, critical infrastructure providers and the public-sector seek to comply with these regulations.  Companies that suffer data breaches and cyber incidents in the future will be liable for heavy penalties that could amount to as much as 4% of a company’s global revenues.

Opportunities

The 2018 PwC Ireland Economic Crime Report revealed that almost 50% of Irish organizations suffered an economic crime or fraud since 2016.  This growing threat of cyber-attacks is driving increased spending on security solutions.  Opportunities exist to provide cybersecurity solutions and services to large corporations, SMEs and public-sector organizations.   The most significant opportunities are to be found in organizations for which IT security is mission critical, e.g. major financial institutions, utilities and government departments.  To date, U.S. cybersecurity firms have been playing a leading role in the Irish market and Irish distributors, systems integrators and value-added resellers (VARs) are continually seeking to identify and source the latest innovative cybersecurity solutions from the U.S.  

Preparedness for cybercrime in Ireland is increasing with many companies performing cyber-attack vulnerability risk assessments.  However, while extremely vigilant in the search for fraud, Irish organizations have been slow to invest in technologies related to fraud prevention, detection and authentication.  Most economic crimes in Ireland are detected through corporate controls including fraud risk assessments, suspicious transaction reporting and corporate security.  No frauds were detected via data analytic techniques.

Web Resources

Department of Communications, Climate Action & Environment (DCCAE): https://dccae.gov.ie/en-ie/communications/topics/Internet-Policy/Pages/default.aspx

National Cyber Security Center:  https://www.ncsc.gov.ie/

PWC Ireland Economic Crime Report 2018 – https://www.pwc.ie/publications/2018/economic-crime-survey-2018.pdf

Network Information Services (NIS) Directive:  https://dccae.gov.ie/en-ie/communications/topics/Internet-Policy/cyber-security/network-and-information-systems-directive/Pages/default.aspx

TechCentral: http://www.techcentral.ie
Silicon Republic: http://www.siliconrepublic.com
Public Procurement Portal (eTenders): http://www.etenders.gov.ie


For more information about Ireland’s cybersecurity sector, please contact:

Padraig O'Connor
Commercial Advisor – ICT & Cybersecurity Sector
U.S. Commercial Service Dublin
Tel: +353 1 2375848
Email: Padraig.O’Connor@trade.gov

 

Prepared by the International Trade Administration. With its network of more than 100 offices across the United States and in more than 75 markets, the International Trade Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce utilizes its global presence and international marketing expertise to help U.S. companies sell their products and services worldwide. Locate the trade specialist in the U.S. nearest you by visiting http://export.gov/usoffices.