Technology « Thurles Information

National Cyber Security Centre Launches 2025 Cyber Risk Assessment.

National Cyber Security Centre Launches 2025 National Cyber Risk Assessment revealing Escalating Threat Landscape.

Rapidly evolving cyber risks put country’s critical infrastructure at risk.

Today (December 2nd) the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) launched its 2025 National Cyber Risk Assessment. This is a comprehensive review of the cyber threats, systemic risks, and sectoral vulnerabilities facing the State.

Launched at the NCSC’s annual conference, the assessment provides the most detailed national overview to date of Ireland’s cyber risk environment and builds on the foundation laid by the 2022 assessment.

The assessment identifies key developments in the national and global cyber threat landscape, including increasingly sophisticated nation-state activity, the accelerating pace of cybercrime, and the growing likelihood of cascading impacts across interconnected sectors such as energy, transport, healthcare, and financial services.

Key findings of the 2025 National Cyber Risk Assessment include:

As technology has advanced and reliance on digitalisation has intensified, the cyber threat landscape has become more complex with an increased risk of incidents, leading to significant cross sectoral impacts.

Taking an all-hazards approach, the 2025 National Cyber Risk Assessment has identified three key systemic risks:

The dynamic geopolitical environment,
Evolving technology and its implications on security.
Supply chain security.

If any or all these risks were to be realised, it could undermine Ireland’s delivery of essential services, disrupt its critical sectors, and erode trust in government, institutions, and organisations.

To mitigate Ireland’s identified risks, five recommendations have been identified:

Strengthen visibility and detection – investing systems and structures to enhance national visibility will reduce systemic blind spots and allow the State to be better positioned to anticipate and respond to risks before they escalate.
Implement proactive cyber defence capabilities – reactive responses alone are not sufficient to protect society and the economy from the potential cascading effects of attacks on critical systems. Ireland must enhance its proactive cyber defence posture, disrupting the cyber-attack lifecycle earlier to prevent incidents at scale.
Enhance national resilience –by implementing EU frameworks in full and extending resilience beyond infrastructure to society itself, Ireland will ensure that both services and democratic institutions remain robust in the face of systemic cyber risks.
Secure critical supply chains – the State must strengthen our supply chain through strengthening procurement rules in government, embed security-by-design and risk management practices, and increase visibility of vendor ownership.
Invest in national cyber resilience – investment in people, innovation and our indigenous industrial base will ensure that Ireland has the capacity not just to respond to today’s threats but to anticipate and shape the next generation of resilience measures.

These recommendations provide a framework for the next National Cyber Security Strategy, ensuring that systemic vulnerabilities are reduced and national resilience strengthened.

The 2025 National Cyber Risk Assessment is now available HERE.

Blink Outdoor 4: One Of The Strongest Black Friday Security Bargains.

The Blink Outdoor 4, a wireless HD smart security camera with a two-year battery life and IP65 weatherproof rating, has to stands out this Black Friday as one of the most compelling home-security bargains online. With this 2-camera system bundled with the Sync Module Core, now reportedly reduced by around 59%, the value proposition is hard to ignore.

In a season when home burglaries tend to rise, particularly over darker winter evenings and especially around Christmas, when homes may be unoccupied or gifts visible through windows, investing in reliable external surveillance is increasingly prudent.

View the HD smart security camera HERE.

What it does well.

Long battery life & low maintenance: Blink claims up to two years on two AA lithium batteries, a rare advantage among battery-powered outdoor cameras.
Hassle-free, wireless installation: The wireless design avoids messy complicated wiring, making it easy for homeowners to place cameras where they are most needed.
Weather resistance & durability: With IP65 rating, Blink Outdoor 4 is built to withstand rain, wind, and cold, essential for Irish winter conditions.
Good video quality & effective motion detection: Users in the Thurles area report satisfactory 1080p HD video and reliable motion-activated alerts.

Local storage option (no mandatory subscription): The included Sync Module Core allows for local USB storage, (latter not included but can be purchased cheaply HERE) giving homeowners control over their surveillance footage without needing to pay for a cloud plan.

High quality outdoor adjustable brackets, (also not included), can be purchased cheaply HERE.

Why this deal matters, especially now:
With many discounts across the board this Black Friday, the steep reduction in price makes Blink Outdoor 4 a very attractive entry point for homeowners seeking upgraded security, especially for those living alone, in a period where opportunistic burglaries tend to increase. The balance of ease of installation, decent video quality, weather-proofing and low maintenance makes it a very sound choice for people who want visible deterrence and peace of mind, without investing in a fully wired CCTV system.

Given the current price drop, this looks very much like one of the “best deals online” for outdoor, battery-powered home-security cameras.

Call For Stronger Action Against Mobile & Broadband Providers Who Are Failing Customers.

The introduction of new legislation allowing consumers to exit mobile and broadband contracts in the event of price hikes is a welcome and long-overdue step. For years, customers have faced routine annual increases, often quietly applied and seldom explained, leaving households paying more for the same level of service.

However, while this new move addresses unfair price rises, it fails to tackle an equally serious issue: with providers continuing to charge full price even when their services are down for extended periods. Across the country, customers routinely experience outages lasting hours or even several days, yet no automatic refunds or meaningful compensation are offered.

This situation is unacceptable. It is fundamentally unfair that consumers are expected to honour their contracts in full when providers do not honour theirs. Reliable service is not a luxury; it is an essential utility, particularly for families working from home, students relying on online learning, and older people depending on digital communication.

Mobile and broadband companies have for too long enjoyed strong profits while delivering inconsistent service, placing the burden on customers who often have little choice of an alternative provider. A voluntary refund system is not good enough.

Regulators and the Irish Government must now go further by compelling providers to:

Introduce automatic compensation for outages, without requiring customers to chase refunds.
Publish clear service-level commitments, including timelines for restoring faults.
Be held accountable for persistent service failures, with penalties for repeated non-compliance.

While this new legislation empowers consumers to walk away from unfair price increases, it is only one part of a wider problem. True consumer protection requires not just the right to leave a contract, but assurance that the service being paid for is delivered reliably and responsibly.

It is time to hold mobile and broadband providers to a higher standard. Irish customers deserve no less.

A Quick Glance At Today’s Budget.

Take A Quick Glance At Ireland’s Budget Details Announced Today.

Workers earning the national minimum wage will see an increase of 65 cent per hour, bringing the new rate to €14.15.
Motorists; Same will face higher fuel costs, with a 60-litre tank set to rise by €1.28 for petrol and €1.48 for diesel.
Smokers; The cost of a 20-pack of cigarettes will increase by 50 cent, bringing the average price to just under €19.
Social Welfare, Child benefit & Pensions; Core weekly social welfare payments, including the State pension, will rise by €10 per week. Child benefit; Same will increase by €8 per month for children under 12 and €16 for those aged 12 and over.
Fuel allowance: Eligibility for the fuel allowance will be expanded to include recipients of the Working Family Payment, and the weekly allowance itself will rise by €5.
Education & Grants; In education, college fees will be permanently reduced by €500, bringing the annual charge to €2,500—though this will represent an increase in real terms from the temporarily reduced rate of €2,000 in recent years. SUSI Grants; The income threshold for SUSI grants will rise by €5,000, to €120,000 per household. Capitation grants; Same will increase from €224 to €274 for primary and special schools, and from €386 to €406 at post-primary level. Special Needs Assistants; 1,717 new Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) will be appointed, bringing the total to almost 24,900, alongside 1,042 new teaching posts, including 860 for special education. Building Projects; A €1.6 billion capital investment will progress over 300 school building projects, delivering around 2,800 new places for special classes and schools.
Hospitality: The VAT rate on hospitality will be cut to 9% from July 2026, while the rate for completed apartments will drop from 13% to 9% until the end of 2030.
Renters; Renters will benefit from the extension of the tax credit for a further three years, remaining at €1,000 for individuals and €2,000 for couples. Mortgage interest relief will continue for two more years—€1,250 in 2025 and €625 in 2026.
Income Tax Bands; There are no major changes to income tax bands or credits, other than an increase in the USC 2% rate band to €28,700.
Public Transport; Reduced public transport fares will continue throughout 2026, and the 9% VAT rate on energy bills will be extended until the end of 2028.
Defence; The Defence budget will rise by 11%, funding 50 new civilian roles, 70 additional civil servants for areas such as cybersecurity, and new body armour and ammunition stock replenishment.
Health; The Health budget will increase to €27.3 billion, up €1.5 billion on this year, including 300 new mental health staff.
Law Enforcement; Up to 1,000 new Garda recruits will be deployed in 2026, with further investment in immigration processing, youth diversion, and domestic violence prevention programmes.
National Broadband Plan; A further €433 million will go towards the National Broadband Plan, while €357 million will be provided for broadcasting, including €65.4 million for TG4.
Renewable energy; Households generating renewable energy will benefit from an extension of the €400 income tax disregard for microgeneration earnings until 2028.
Sport; €3 million will be provided to establish League of Ireland youth academies, and the GAA will receive €1.6 million in funding for inter-county players.
Music; From Budget 2026, income tax relief for makers of uilleann pipes and Irish harps will be extended to 2028.

Thurles.Info Uses AI To Celebrate Tipperary All-Ireland Hurling.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the ability of computer systems to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, e.g. learning, problem-solving, and even decision-making.
It encircles a broad range of techniques and technologies that are amazing, unbelievable, and yes actually ‘frightening’ in its ability to clone accurately human cognitive functions that involve the mental process of knowing, learning and understanding.

Today, AI is rapidly beginning to be used in various professional fields; like healthcare; customer service; finance; automotive tasks; to quickly analyse large amounts of data, and/or even improve everyday human decision-making.
Alas, there are also a myriad of dangers associated with the use of AI; possibly the biggest risks today being consumer privacy, and biased programming, with little legal regulation governing its place in future society.

Artificial Intelligence technology can now create original text; graphic images, [see the Thurles.Info logo pictured here, created in just under 50 seconds], together with video and other content.

For the benefit of our readers we requested AI to write a poem about Tipperary defeat of old sporting rivals Cork in the recent 2025 All-Ireland Hurling final.

Truth is you couldn’t write this poem better yourself, so here is a celebratory poem capturing the spirit of Tipperary’s victory over Cork in the 2025 All-Ireland Hurling Final.
Note, when instructed AI gave us the following poem in approximately 20 seconds.

The poem is just a bit of harmless fun, while demonstrating the magic of AI to celebrate that fantastic win for the Premier County.
Hope you our readers enjoy it!

The Premier Roar – Tipperary 2025.
(A Ballad of Glory in Croke Park.)

In July sun ‘neath Dublin skies, where hopes and hearts together rise,
The Rebels came with Red held high, but Blue and Gold would rule the sky.
From Croke Park’s field, a thunder grew, as Tipp men charged with proud sinew,
Their ash in hand, their eyes like flame, they came to win this glourious game.
Cork struck first with fierce intent, but every blow was quickly spent,
But Maher and Forde held the line, with John Mcgrath, in form divine.
The sliotar soared, the crowd did cry, as Tipp lit stars across the sky.
A goal! Another! Cheers like flame, each score a stitch in Tipp’s great name.
The Red did rally, proud and bold, but Tipp’s resolve was forged in Gold.
With clever pass and fearless swings, they danced as warriors, crowned as kings.
And when the final whistle blew, the stands erupted, drenched in Blue.
From Thurles town to Lough Derg’s shore, the Premier roared like ne’er before.
They held the ‘Liam’ aloft with pride, for every fan who cheered or cried.
A county’s dream, a chapter penned, for in 2025, that wait did end.

END