The Irish government should be spending up to 10 times more on cyber-security than it is now.
Cybersecurity experts have told an Oireachtas Committee that we must raise our game when it comes to protecting against hackers.
The warning comes 11 days after news of the HSE ransomware attack first emerged.
At the moment, only €5 million euro is allocated to the National Cyber Security Centre in the budget.
Cybersecurity consultant Pat Larkin outlined how much should be invested by Government before the Oireachtas Committee today.
He said "I did a projection on a per capita basis just against the UK - who'll spend about 2.9 billion on their national security from 2018-2023. So on a simple per capita basis that would suggest we would need to be spending about €50 million-plus!"
The NCSC has approximately 25 staff and no dedicated premises.
It is now scouring the dark web to see if any data stolen in the HSE cyber attack has been placed online.
