DoJ setting up cyber-crimes prosecution branch

A new prosecution branch combating cyber crimes will be set up soon at the Department of Justice, said deputy secretary for Justice Horace Cheung Kwok-kwan.

Writing on his blog yesterday, Cheung emphasized the need for establishing the new technology crime sub-division, citing the danger to personal and national security brought by pervasive and sophisticated cyber crimes.

"With the rapid development of technology, some criminals have been using 'deepfake' backed by artificial intelligence to generate fake yet lifelike audios and videos of famous people to conduct frauds, attracting worldwide attention," Cheung said.

The number of cyber crimes increased threefold in the past six years to over 22,000 cases last year.

The first quarter's fraud cases rose 65 percent compared with the same period last year, with over 70 percent related to online scam.

"In the era of technology, internet crimes involved the complexity of cross-border criminal activities, and the use of digital evidence also gave rise to complex legal issues," he wrote.

"Prosecuting agencies must closely follow technological advancements and stay abreast of emerging trends in technology-related criminal activities in order to effectively enforce the law."

Cheung said to combat rising cyber crimes, the DoJ should closely cooperate with the police, who have set up the Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau in 2015.

The DoJ has already proposed to add one principal government counsel post to head the technology crime sub-division, which was approved by the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council last Friday, while a dedicated branch within the prosecution division would also be set up soon.

Cheung said the DoJ would also consider the recommendations from the "consultation paper on Cyber-Dependent Crimes and Jurisdictional" published by the Law Reform Commission last July.

The consultation paper addresses five cyber-dependent crimes, which are illegal access to programs or data, illegal interception of computer data, illegal interference of computer data, illegal interference of computer systems, and making available or possessing a device or data for committing a crime.

The legislative advice came as Hong Kong currently has no single ordinance to deal with cyber crimes, with some offenses covered in the Crimes Ordinance and the Telecommunications Ordinance becoming outdated.

"The new technology crime sub-division we are going to set up will follow up the recommendations in the consultation paper," Cheung added.