Councilor Duncan Chiu Tat-kun, who represents the innovation and technology sector, said each sector was working on its own IT projects and apps, and there was a lack of a unified system.
He said the current fragmented structure dilutes resources across the department and lacks the ability to respond to cyberattacks individually.
Mr. Chiu, who is also chairman of the Hong Kong Information Technology Joint Council, said, “We should no longer adopt the approach of 'making a hundred flowers bloom at the same time,' and the government should do it uniformly.''
He appealed to the government to consolidate resources into four major data hubs, including iAM Smart, a one-stop personalized digital services platform. One for healthcare, one for businesses, and one for spatial data, which is information related to a specific geographic location.
“Consolidation improves digital security by allowing more resources to be used to deploy the most secure systems,” he said.
Francis Fong Pok-kiu, honorary president of the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, agreed that a lack of coordination between government departments led to repeated mistakes that led to cybersecurity breaches.
“Several mistakes, some simple ones, were repeated between different departments,” he said.
Data of 110,000 people leaked due to breach of Hong Kong company registry
Data of 110,000 people leaked due to breach of Hong Kong company registry
Fong added that the government's new Digital Policy Office will be able to coordinate and monitor IT-related operations across the administration.
He called on the government to accelerate the creation of a central resource, saying it would also help reduce the risk of further data breaches.
Fong also called on authorities to expand centralized cybersecurity measures to protect statutory and public institutions.
The new office was announced by CEO John Lee Kaciu in his policy speech last year, announcing that it would be created by merging the Office of the Government's Chief Information Officer and the Office of Efficiency.
Finance Secretary Paul Chan Mopo earlier said the office is expected to be operational by the middle of this year.
Hong Kong privacy watchdog grills authorities over data leak of 17,000 people
Hong Kong privacy watchdog grills authorities over data leak of 17,000 people
Experts said on Friday that an investigation into Hong Kong's Companies Registry found that 110,000 people's personal information, including names, passports, ID numbers and home addresses, had been leaked through an online portal. I raised my voice.
The registry said its phone numbers and email addresses were also compromised and that it has begun contacting victims for explanations and apologies.
The announcement of the breach comes after the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data announced it would investigate a cybersecurity failure at the government's Electrical and Mechanical Services Authority.
The personal information of 17,000 people collected during the coronavirus pandemic, including names, phone numbers, ID numbers and addresses, was leaked due to an error in the ministry's password login system.
The privacy watchdog also revealed on Thursday that the consumer council had breached privacy rules when the personal information of more than 470 people was stolen in a cybersecurity attack.
