Lawmakers voice concern over police plan to plug data leaks
Lawmakers yesterday voiced fears over a plan by police to set up a HK$400 million secure network for remote access to the force's database to prevent officers inadvertently leaking data onto the internet.
They are worried over the cost-effectiveness and the risk of losing confidential information.
Security panel chairman Lau Kong-wah said information security was very important for the police, but lawmakers were concerned as to whether the plan was the only solution. 'We need to ensure whether the funding for an enhanced police security infrastructure is used in a proper and reasonable way,' Lau said.
The force will submit its funding proposal for the virtual work station to the legislature soon. The new system would allow all 27,000 officers to access the police server and database within and away from police stations under an encrypted secure system.
Officers would have different access rights to documents in the database according to their rank. Printing of documents would only be allowed using designated printers, such as those in police stations.
Civic Party leader Audrey Eu Yuet-mee said: 'The electronic health care records involved handling loads of patients' medical records and cost HK$700 million [in the five-year first stage]. I am quite surprised the police might seek about HK$400 million.'
The Hospital Authority will spend HK$1 billion on the electronic health records system in the next 10 years. Each electronic record will contain patients' key medical information.
Funding of HK$700 million for the first stage of this system was approved by the legislature in July.
Eu and fellow lawmaker James To Kun-sun are worried about the possibility of a higher risk of confidential data leaks if the new police system is introduced.
To said: 'Previously, data leaks only involved a certain amount of documents which officers took back to work on at home. However, it seems there might be a potential leak of thousands of police documents if an officer's password is stolen or misused in the virtual workstation system.'
