An immediate review of data protection systems in the Northern Ireland Civil Service was ordered today by Finance Minister Peter Robinson.
The move came in the wake of the admission by Chancellor Alastair Darling that details of all UK families in receipt of child benefit allowances had been lost by HM Revenue & Customs.
Information lost on two computer discs involves child benefit data including the names, ages, bank account details and address of some 7.25 million families - several hundred thousand in Northern Ireland.
Mr Robinson said the protection of personal information relating to Northern Ireland citizens had been the focus of a review operation in the summer. The new review would assess the effectiveness of measures already in place, he said.
The minister said: "The loss of citizens' personal information by HMRC has underlined the need for strong systems of protection and control." He said the need for vigilance within the Civil Service locally was reinforced in August through internal guidance issued to all departments regarding the potential for the possible compromise of personal information.
"Given the gravity of yesterday's events and the need to reassure the public and indeed our own staff that proper systems of information management and control are in place and functioning properly, I have instigated an immediate four-week review, said Mr Robinson.
He added: "The review will examine in close detail the effectiveness of personal data security systems across Northern Ireland departments in order to provide reassurance to the public that their personal information is being protected properly."
Mr Robinson has already joined with the banks in urging all Northern Ireland recipients of child benefit payments to be vigilant and to monitor their bank statements in case criminals have tried to hack into their accounts.
The Information Commissioner's Office in Northern Ireland was inundated with calls about the security breach. Extra staff had to be moved to answer calls to its advice line after it received two days worth of calls in two hours from worried callers.
Commissioner Marie Anderson said: "People want to know what they should do. They're worried about if they should contact their bank and we are advising them that they should check their bank statements. "If they see any transactions they don't recognise they should contact the bank immediately."
PA