SafeUM
Home Blog Services Download Help About Recharge

Axarhöfði 14, 110 Reykjavik, Iceland

Iceland - 2015
SafeUM
Blog
Services
Download
Help
About
Recharge
Menu
Archive
TOP Security!
28 Mar 2017

2 government laptops containing 3.7 million people's data have been stolen

Two laptops containing personal information of Hong Kong's 3.7 million registered voters have been stolen.

The laptops were reported missing by Hong Kong's electoral office, in what could be the city's largest data breach. They were reportedly stolen from a locked room on Lantau Island, off the main Hong Kong island. The room was a designated backup venue for the chief executive elections held over the weekend.

The stolen data included names, addresses and identity card numbers of voters, the office said in a statement. The data was encrypted, so it'll be a lot harder — albeit not impossible — for information to be leaked. Hong Kong's privacy commissioner for personal data said in a statement that it had been notified of what happened, and added that it will launch a "routine probe" into the issue. Police also said that they are treating the case as theft, but no arrests have been made so far.

The data breach has drawn sharp criticism from lawmakers and Hong Kong citizens. "This is unacceptable," Charles Mok, a lawmaker representing the city's IT sector, wrote on Facebook. "There's no reason why the data was stored on computers that could have been stolen; they could have encrypted it on the cloud."

While the city has 3.7 million registered voters, only 1,194 votes were eligible to be cast on Sunday. Since Hong Kong's separation from British rule in 1997, the city has designated a pre-selected group of voters from its business and political establishment to represent the population. A Reddit user pointed this out too, asking: "Why did they need to store the full register [for the chief executive election] instead of just the list of 1,194 'election' committee members?"

Tags:
information leaks China
Source:
Mashable
1715
Other NEWS
3 Jul 2020 safeum news imgage An encrypted messaging service has been infiltrated by police
4 May 2020 safeum news imgage Two-Factor Authentication ​What Is It and Why You Should Use It
12 Dec 2019 safeum news imgage Encryption is under threat - this is how it affects you
4 Nov 2019 safeum news imgage Should Big Decisions Be Based on Data or Your Intuition?
7 Jun 2018 safeum news imgage VPNFilter malware infecting 500,000 devices is worse than we thought
4 Jun 2018 safeum news imgage Hackers target Booking.com in criminal bid to steal hundreds of thousands from customers
1 Jun 2018 safeum news imgage Operator of World's Top Internet Hub Sues German Spy Agency
30 May 2018 safeum news imgage US says North Korea behind malware attacks
29 May 2018 safeum news imgage Facebook and Google targeted as first GDPR complaints filed
25 May 2018 safeum news imgage A new reason to not buy these cheap Android devices
24 May 2018 safeum news imgage Flaws in smart pet devices, apps could come back to bite owners
23 May 2018 safeum news imgage Google sued for 'clandestine tracking' of 4.4m UK iPhone users' browsing data
21 May 2018 safeum news imgage LocationSmart reportedly leaked phone location data onto the web
18 May 2018 safeum news imgage The SEC created its own scammy ICO to teach investors a lesson
17 May 2018 safeum news imgage Thieves suck millions out of Mexican banks in transfer heist
All news
SafeUM
Confidential Terms of Use Our technologies Company
Follow us
Download
SafeUM © Safe Universal Messenger

Axarhöfði 14,
110 Reykjavik, Iceland

Iceland - 2015