HKPC Warns Against Surging Cyber Attacks

More collaborative actions have to be drawn up to ward off worsening cyber attacks accompanying the popularization of new internet applications such as cloud computing and social networking websites, information security (IS) experts from the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) warned.

Speaking at the opening of the "Information Security Summit 2009", jointly hosted by HKPC and eight IS bodies, today (18 November 2009), Mr Yung Kai-tai, General Manager (IT Industry Development) of HKPC, issued the warning after the HKPC-managed Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre (HKCERT) has received 811 security incident reports in the first 10 months of 2009, up 11% from the same period last year.

"Stopping these attacks is no easy task and it requires collaborative efforts of the law enforcement authorities, vendors, IS professionals and computer users across the globe. Through HKCERT, HKPC has been proactive in pursuing this goal. Locally, we staged Hong Kong's first-ever territory-wide IS incident response drill in July and, regionally, as the current Chair of the Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team, we are taking the lead in organizing the Asia-Pacific Drill later this year with 20 CERT teams in the region," he said.

Under the theme of "Security in the Age of Cloud Computing, Virtualisation and Social Networking", the Summit comprises a one-day conference as well as technical workshops for IS professionals.

Other officiating guests at the opening of the Summit included Mr John Wong, Assistant Government Chief Information Officer (IT Strategy) of HKSAR Government, and Mr Dale Johnstone, Chairman of the Summit's organizing committee.

For further information about the Summit and HKPC's IS services, please contact Ms Tracy Choy at tel. (852) 2788 5884 or email: info@issummit.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

18 November 2009