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Fan Chen

Hong Kong authorities have urged companies to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) to bolster data protection amid a slight increase in the city’s cybersecurity readiness index over last year.
The Enterprise Cyber Security Readiness Index rose to 52.8 this year, up 5.8 points from last year, according to results jointly released by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) and the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) on Thursday.
While the increase was the largest jump in a year since 2018, the score remained at a “basic” level, according to Alex Chan Chung-man, general manager of digital transformation at the HKPC.
Enterprises had some consistent cybersecurity measures but “no central management or fine-grained control”, he said.
“The improvement is primarily due to more enterprises conducting cybersecurity risk assessments this year and engaging third-party assessors to evaluate their IT systems,” he said.
Of the index’s four components, “human awareness building” has remained the lowest since 2018.
“The lack of awareness among employees could potentially become one of the biggest vulnerabilities in an enterprise’s cybersecurity,” Chan added.
Overall, 69 per cent of the 442 surveyed companies had suffered cyberattacks in the past 12 months, down by 4 per cent over last year.
But the number of security incidents handled by the council’s Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre between January and October this year hit a record of 10,020, Chan revealed.
Although phishing accounted for 62 per cent of the incidents, officials cautioned that AI could easily become a mainstream tool for hackers in the future as the technology improved and costs came down.
To counter the threat, companies should use AI as a “double-edge sword” to improve their defences, authorities advised.
Chan noted research into ways AI could be used in cybersecurity was growing and included using the tool to detect deepfakes, automate defences or accelerate internal responses to threats.
“These are the areas we see how we can adopt AI in order to counter these new emerging tactics,” he said.

But companies remained cautious over implementing AI. About one in five respondents had adopted the technology into their operations, while 69 per cent said they feared using the tool as it could introduce significant privacy risks.
Ada Chung Lai-ling, privacy commissioner for personal data, said she did not think companies’ attitudes about AI contradicted their actual practices.
“It’s good that they have this awareness so that they could take pre-emptive measures to reduce the privacy risks,” Chung said.
More than half of companies that used AI had implemented data security measures, response plans for breaches and an AI security policy, the survey showed. They also either offered or planned to provide training for employees on using AI, it found.
One of the top challenges companies faced in managing cybersecurity was ensuring they were investing properly to meet the evolving nature of threats, according to the council.
Companies had increased their cybersecurity budgets by about 20 per cent over last year, Chung noted, saying the figure was “encouraging”.
Authorities advised companies to carry out reviews of their cybersecurity at least once a year, which included testing by third parties, and conduct regular training for employees.
The government will launch its Data Security Training Series for small and medium-sized firms next year.
Local authorities carried out their first citywide cybersecurity drill last week and plan to make it an annual exercise after a recent surge in hacking cases targeting companies, organisations and public bodies.
Hong Kong has seen an increasing number of cyberattacks in recent years. The computer systems of prominent bodies, including the Consumer Council and Cyberport, have suffered data breaches.


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Hong Kong

Enterprise Cyber Security Readiness Index rises to 52.8, up 5.8 points from last year’s result, but still remains at ‘basic’ level


Enterprise Cyber Security Readiness Index rises to 52.8, up 5.8 points from last year’s result, but still remains at ‘basic’ level.


Cybersecurity