Editorial | HKEX must act quickly in wake of damaging blows
- Chaos after hack attack and software bug at city stock exchange underlines need to invest more to safeguard its information and technical infrastructure
An attack on the city’s stock exchange is an attack aimed at the heart of Hong Kong. An abiding concern of officials has been that the political turmoil will involve Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX).
That would be very damaging to the image of Asia’s third-biggest financial centre. Incidents at the MTR and airport that obstructed freedom of movement did nothing to ease immediate fears.
Until now the exchange had not missed a beat during three months of protests, strikes and violent clashes. HKEX’s website was hacked on Thursday while the exchange was already laid low by a halt to derivatives trading to fix an unrelated software bug.
The attack slowed and disrupted the ability of the bourse’s open-access website to display exchange prices and financial data. There is no evidence linking it to the turmoil. But that does not detract from the gravity of the incident.
No leading financial centre can afford to have data breaches. The website should be among the most secure in the city.