Swalikh Mohammed, superintendent of the Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau, said police had received more than 800 complaints from officers and referred about 150 of the cases to the privacy commissioner’s office for investigation.

Another police source said as many as 600 officers were believed to have had their personal data circulated online in the wake of clashes between police and protesters.

“Some officers received nuisance calls, others received threats saying all their family members would be killed,” Mohammed said.

The suspects, aged from 16 to 40 and all from Hong Kong, were arrested since Tuesday. They were charged with a range of offences, including access to a computer with dishonest intent, disclosure of personal information without consent, criminal damage and criminal intimidation.

One of the suspects was arrested for an unsuccessful attempt to hack the police force’s website through a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.

A DDoS attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal internet traffic of a targeted server, service or network by overwhelming the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of internet traffic.

A female primary school teacher was also arrested for posting threatening messages on instant messaging app Telegram and online forums inviting others to use petrol bombs on the Legislative Council building, according to a police source.

Others arrested included a male who had posted online personal information such as Hong Kong identity card numbers, addresses and phone numbers of more than 600 officers, the source said.

A female suspect was said to have tried to hack into the police intranet, which held officers’ personal information including names, badge numbers and phone numbers, but she failed to get in.

Three men were arrested for disclosing the information of others without consent. The data included that from police officers and their families.

Mohammed said the force strongly condemned the cyberbullying of its officers.