A recent study has revealed that Asian Pacific enterprises are expected to pay US$230 billion for cyber security breaches in a year.
Hong Kong represents one of Asia’s largest information security hubs. Last week, however, the local- based toy company VTech was hacked, exposing personal data of over 6.4 million children.
Despite this incident, Hong Kong’s security is verified to be of a high standard and the incident is expected to be a one-off.
With commercial transaction thriving in the region, it is inevitable that cyber crimes will increase in tandem. This has required both the public and private sector to increase security measures, threat awareness, and total data protection.
The most recent cyber security index reported by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) ranked Hong Kong 5th in Asia.
This index measures the legal standard and organisational structure of the nation with regards to cyber security.
Hong Kong has 32 certified government and public sector agencies certified under internationally recognized standards of cyber security. This is impressive when compared to neighbouring countries, some of which have yet to adopt such standards across the board.
Hong Kong also continues to engage in capacity building through its investment in R & D towards technological development.
Just last month, Hong Kong launched the Innovation and Technology Bureau which aims to boost innovation including cyber security research and measures.
In addition to the healthy numbers and measures, the government reassures public that their online privacy is never compromised.
“The government attaches great importance to data protection. In particular, protection of personal data,” said a spokesperson from the office of Hong Kong’s Chief Information Officer.
With a highly reliable data protection structure in place, it is perhaps the responsibility of private firms to fully capitalise on it.
The increased reliance of cost-efficiency in Asian firms will result in increased dependence on information technology. This naturally increases the firm’s exposure to cyber security threats. It is thus crucial for firms to consider increasing data protection along with their increased use of the cyber space.
