Data breaches in Hong Kong have jumped 80 per cent in five years, now privacy watchdog wants more power and resources to give future investigations ‘teeth’
- Office of the Privacy Commissioner reveals it received 129 reports in 2018
- In response, it wants a 50 per cent increase in manpower to help with future investigations
The number of data breach reports reached a record high last year, the privacy watchdog said on Thursday as it revealed plans to tighten relevant laws in the next few months.
Privacy Commissioner Stephen Wong Kai-yi also publicly urged the government to increase his office’s manpower by 50 per cent, up from the existing headcount of 69 to about 105, but said his office would remain an “enterprise-friendly” regulator until it got more teeth.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) revealed it received 129 data breach reports in 2018, which is up 22 per cent from the year before, and 80 per cent higher than in 2014. Wong attributed that increase to the rise in the use of mobile and social media technology.
However, that only resulted in four formal investigations in the same year, after Wong changed the policy on relying less on regulatory power, and increased emphasis on promotion and education.
A spokeswoman from the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau, which manages the funding and policy for the regulator, said it regularly reviewed the resources allocated to the watchdog and noted it had already received a 19 per cent increase in funding from HK$64.6 million in 2013-2014, to HK$76.9 million in the past financial year.