Hacking Attacks up 44% , HKPC Warned

An alarming surge in hacking attacks has sparked calls for a comprehensive strategy to combat cyber crimes in Hong Kong.

Speaking at the opening of the "Information Security Summit 2008" today (19 November 2008), Mr Wilson Fung, Executive Director of the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC), urged the government and computer users to work together on enhancing information security (IS) after 483 hacking cases were reported to the HKPC-managed Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre (HKCERT) in the first 10 months of this year, up 44 per cent from the same period last year.

Mr Fung said: "We need firm commitment from the government in taking the lead to raise public awareness of the importance of a secure internet environment and to put in place the necessary policy framework to facilitate such environment. For computer users, they need to adopt both preventive and reactive measures to guard their internet assets. Implementing international information security management standards and building up their incident response capabilities are some effective solutions."

"HKPC, through HKCERT, has for the past seven years built up very strong technical expertise, community acceptance, and most important of all, trusts among different stakeholders in the area of information security. We hope our experience can contribute towards the Government's review, hopefully leading to better and more comprehensive IT security services for local internet users," he said.

Under the theme of "Enhancing Mobility Security in an Information Collaboration World", the 2008 Summit is jointly hosted by HKPC and seven IS bodies.

Other officiating guests at the opening of the Summit included Mr Jeremy Godfrey, Chief Government Information Officer of the HKSAR Government, and Mr Dale Johnstone, Chairman of the Summit’s organizing committee. A highlight of the Summit was the keynote address on IS and Privacy Protection by Mr Roderick Woo, Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data.

For further information about the Summit and HKPC's information security services, please contact Ms Jennifer Ng at tel. (852) 2788 5851 or email: jennifer@hkpc.org . For other media enquiries, please contact Mr Felix Chan at tel. (852) 2788 5036 or email: felixchan@hkpc.org .

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Mr Jonathan Ho
General Manager
Corporate Communications
Tel: (852) 2788 6390
Fax: (852) 2788 5056
Email: jonathanho@hkpc.org
Website: www.hkpc.org

19 November 2008