Census 2021 information assurance
NISRA want citizens to be confident that we will protect all the information we collect during Census 2021.
To support this, we commissioned an independent review of the security arrangements, jointly with the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Following a competitive tendering process, NISRA and ONS selected a specialist security company, Bridewell Consulting, which is accredited by the National Cyber Security Centre, to perform this review.
Bridewell Consulting conducted a rigorous review to assess the effectiveness of the security we are implementing for Census 2021. The security they assessed covered our Survey Data Collection, Field Operations, Data Processing, Suppliers, Event Management and the overarching Census itself. The overall security maturity position was also assessed against common industry control frameworks of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cyber Security Framework (NIST CSF) and Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) Software Assurance Maturity Model (SAMM).
Further details including the findings can be found in the 'Independent Information Assurance Public Report - Census 2021'.
Initial review
Ahead of the 2019 Census Rehearsal, Bridewell Consulting conducted a rigorous review to assess the effectiveness of the security we are implementing for both the rehearsal and Census 2021. The security they assessed included governance, risk assessment and management, security operations and security assurance.
Read the details of the '2019 Census Rehearsal - Independent Information Assurance Review report' published after the review.