Hong Kong schools fall victim to cyberattack, raising fears for private data of pupils
- Police investigating after eight schools are hacked, three of which report data leaks
- Pupil addresses among information stored on administration system targeted by hackers
Hackers have broken into a government system used by most of Hong Kong’s schools, raising fears for the personal data of pupils, parents and staff.
Eight schools operating a web-based administrative network that stores highly sensitive information were breached, with three of them reporting data leaks, the Education Bureau said on Friday night. Police are investigating.
A bureau spokesman said it had sent specialist personnel into schools to examine IT systems, provide support and strengthen security. But it did not release details of what data might have been stolen during the cyberattack, or which schools had been targeted.
It urged those affected to report the incidents to Hong Kong police and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data.
WebSAMS, or web-based school administrative and management systems, is an application developed by the bureau to provide all public sector and direct subsidy scheme schools with networked computers to support schools’ administration and management operations.