Invest Hong Kong Reports Information Security Incident

Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) announced today (February 23) that an information security incident was identified yesterday (February 22). The incident involved a malicious ransomware attack on part of InvestHK’s computer systems.

Upon identifying the incident, InvestHK took immediate measures to further tighten its IT security systems to prevent further ransomware attacks. The department followed established guidelines and procedures, reporting the case to the Police, the Digital Policy Office (DPO), the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, and the Security Bureau on the same day. InvestHK condemns such malicious attacks and has already updated relevant access rights, isolated the affected systems, and activated backup procedures.

InvestHK is working closely with the Police on the investigation. Preliminary findings indicate that the affected areas include an internal Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, intranet, and part of InvestHK’s website operations, such as the function to contact InvestHK via the website form and events updates. Despite the incident, InvestHK’s public services remain normal, and members of the public can continue to contact staff through telephone, email, or face-to-face meetings.

The investigation is still underway to ascertain whether any personal data leakage is involved. Although this is an ongoing investigation, preliminary assessments suggest that the potentially affected data could include basic information on InvestHK’s clients, such as companies’ contact information and records of InvestHK staff. InvestHK will inform relevant parties if and when further updates are available.

The department has been following Government procedures on information and cybersecurity. To further strengthen its system security measures, InvestHK is currently seeking advice from the DPO and has appointed experts to assist with the investigation and recovery. The department hopes the culprits can be brought to justice as soon as possible to safeguard information and cybersecurity.