Investment promotion agency probes cyberattack

Jamie Liu

InvestHK is investigating if any personal data was leaked after part of its computer systems came under malicious ransomware attack on Saturday, the government's investment promotion agency said.

Preliminary findings indicated that the affected areas included an internal customer relationship management system, the agency's intranet and part of InvestHK's website operations, it said late last night.

The agency's public services are functioning as normal and people can contact its staff through telephone, e-mail or face-to-face meetings, it added.

While it is still determining whether any personal data leakage was involved, risk assessments showed basic information on InvestHK's clients - such as the companies' contact information - and records of InvestHK staff could be affected.

"InvestHK will inform relevant parties if and when further updates are available," it added.

The agency has also filed a report to police, the Digital Policy Office, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, and the Security Bureau.

An InvestHK spokesman said it has appointed experts to assist with the investigation and recovery.

"We hope the culprits can be brought to justice as soon as possible so as to safeguard information and cybersecurity," he added.

He also said InvestHK would never send embedded hyperlinks via e-mail, SMS messages or social media pages for collecting personal information or requesting for payment.

jamie.liu@singtaonewscorp.com