My blog could leak secrets

As I read the Sunday Times in my sun-split garden yesterday, the sound of a helicopter overhead took me back to room 1D377 in the Pentagon. I rode there several times by an Army helicopter.

In the 14 June Sunday Times, Clare Scott explains that the Minister for Higher Education knows there are leaks of intellectual property in Ireland. “Education institutes will be told to guard sensitive technologyprojects from foreign interference, " she writes.

This hits close to home because a quick look at my webstats shows my simple blog is viewed every day by people from around the world. My insideView.ie is where I share rough ideas and occasionally snippets that emerge from funded research.

The Irish government is introducing new rules to protect Irish universities and other education institutions from foreign interference in tech research. I wonder what sort of research security guidelines will be publish and implemented. So much of what I learn comes from open education resources that percolate onto Bluesky, LinkedIn, and semble.so from blogs and newsletters. I learn about artificial intelligence, quantum computing, semiconductors and biotechnology from those sources.

Ireland’s open and global research system is one of its strengths.

It seems that the China Strategic Risks Institute (CSRI) flagged issues about some of the 208 collaborations between Irish colleges and their Chinese partners through existing transnational education programmes. Ten Irish universities have institutions on Chinese campuses. Things can leak when you’re on foreign soil. This is what I experienced first hand while working in the field of nuclear surety.

When I worked as a third level staff member, nobody asked me how I secured extremely sensitive mission data sets while traveling across international borders. If I work as a funded European researcher next year, I imagine the skillset I learned in the Pentagon will help me identify and manage risks. I know how to build proportionate security checks into research processes. For an improved framework to work in Ireland, there must be statutory support of a National Security Authority.

This issue is increasingly important as Ireland sets forth on a path of Data Sovereignty.