HKPC Organizes Anti-Spam Seminar

To assist local companies and the general public to fight spam, the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC), Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team (HKCERT), and the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) of the HKSAR Government, today (14 June 2006) jointly organized the Anti-Spam Seminar.

More than 300 participants attended the event to obtain the latest information on tackling spamming, including the Government's initiatives to contain the problem of unsolicited electronic messages, the technologies and best practices to safeguard message hygiene, as well as the legitimate approaches to e-marketing.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr Edmund Sung, Director (Business Productivity) of HKPC, said, "Spamming has affected all walks of life. Among the 50 billion e-mails circulated in the world every day, it was estimated that at least 80% are spam messages."

Apart from causing nuisance to both enterprises and individuals, spam poses potential information security hazard to all Internet users. Mr Sung said, "For instance, fraud cases related to 'Phishing' usually works through spam e-mails to obtain the personal data of Internet users, causing substantial financial losses and leak of sensitive information."

"To fight spam, Internet users should 'opt-out' from receiving unsolicited marketing or promotional information, while businesses should adopt legitimate practices to e-marketing. Coupled with the application of anti-spam tools and solutions, information security can be further enhanced and e-mail communication becomes more effective," Mr Sung said.

The Anti-Spam Seminar is yet another initiative of HKPC to promote public awareness of anti-spamming, following the success of the Anti-Spam Conference held in March 2006. On the technology front, the HKCERT, managed by HKPC, is closely monitoring new vulnerabilities on the Internet systems and provides timely measures through various channels to safeguard the information security of business and individual users.

Other speakers of the Seminar included Mr Henry Chang, Head of Information and Communications Technologies, Office of the Telecommunications Authority, HKSAR Government; Mr Edward Tam, Principal Consultant (Information Technology Industry Development) of HKPC, as well as representatives from the Professional Information Security Association, Hong Kong Internet Service Providers Association, and anti-spam solutions providers.

For further information on the Anti-spam Seminar, please contact Ms Jennifer Ng of HKPC at tel. (852) 2788 5851 or e-mail: securitytraining@hkpc.org.

For media enquiries, please contact:
Ms Betty Lee
General Manager
Corporate Communications & Events
Tel: (852) 2788 5895
Fax: (852) 2788 5056
E-mail: justina@hkpc.org
Website: www.hkpc.org

14 June 2006