The number of computer-hacking cases reported to police in the first eight months of this year was 138 compared with 13 for the whole of last year.
Senior Inspector Paul Jackson of the Police Computer Security Unit disclosed the figures yesterday during a seminar on Internet-related data protection organised by the Federation of Hong Kong Industries.
While the figures might suggest more organisations were willing to report hacking crime than previously, Inspector Jackson said 'far too many organisations do not report hacking cases for fear of bad publicity'.
He did not give figures on damage suffered by victims, saying it was difficult in many cases to qualify the monetary losses.
The number of cases involving the private sector was not revealed.
Inspector Jackson cited one case under investigation in which the network of a large SAR organisation had suffered multiple hacking attacks for three months early this year before they were discovered.
'The source of the attacks was from overseas, but we don't know all the things the hacker might have done and therefore cannot be sure of the extent of damage,' he said.