HKPC Goes on the Offensive against Attacks on Local Websites

Information security experts at the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) had gone on the offensive to help local websites to ward off cyber attacks, said Mr Wilson Fung, Executive Director of HKPC, at the opening of the "IT Management Showcase 2008" today (13 August 2008).

Mr Fung said: "Since April this year, the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre (HKCERT), managed by HKPC, has identified some 80 local websites that had been plagued by malicious codes. People who browse these websites will have their computers infected by malware without even knowing it. These incidents occur primarily because of the poor coding quality of the websites concerned and this problem has been complicated by the failure on the part of the website owners in applying the latest patches to their systems."

Highlighting HKCERT's new strategy to deal with such attacks, Mr Fung said: "Instead of waiting for the public to report incidents, we now proactively identify the patterns of the malicious codes and search for affected websites in Hong Kong. We will then approach the owners of these websites concerned and advise them on suitable remedial actions and also alert the public to such risks."

Programmers and system administrators are urged to improve their information security management and software quality in order to prevent malicious attacks.

Comprising a conference with presentations from local and international IT management experts, an exhibition on the latest products and services, as well as technical workshops, the Showcase offers the local business and IT sectors the latest trends in information security, IT service management and software quality. The theme of this year's Showcase is "Better Management of IT with People and Process".

For further details, please contact Ms Tracy Choy at tel. (852) 2788 5884 or visit the Showcase website at www.hkitssm.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

13 August 2008