Hackers target email account of University of Hong Kong vice chancellor
Attacks revealed as activities of pro-democracy academics criticised
The University of Hong Kong's vice chancellor has revealed he fell victim to hackers, who accessed his work email account several times.
Professor Peter Mathieson made the disclosure yesterday, and said the most recent case came three weeks ago.
The revelation comes at a time of intense political debate over HKU amid criticism from some in the pro-establishment camp of the activities of pro-democracy academics. It also follows numerous past cyberattacks and hacking cases revolving around the university.
"Obviously my email contains confidential material and I condemn any breach of that confidentiality, especially if it is obtained through illegal means," Mathieson told Cable TV.
He refused to speculate on who was behind the hacking, saying he had "no idea".
The revelation follows a row over the handling of donations by HKU legal academic Benny Tai Yiu-ting which was sparked when email exchanges were anonymously leaked to the media.
HKU's public opinion programme has also suffered massive cyberattacks when conducting polls in association with pro-democracy groups. That included a huge distributed denial of a service attack in June last year, when 10,000 computers worldwide were deployed to disrupt a public vote on political reform organised by the Occupy Central movement.
Mathieson said the university was vigilant in monitoring its cyber security and he would be alerted of any suspicious activity. "We are constantly taking additional steps to enhance security," he said.
Last week, the university's IT services contacted staff and students to warn them about so- called "phishing" attacks which attempt to solicit user's personal information and passwords.
The attacks typically came from email addresses claiming to be linked to the university, but were actually fake, IT services said.
The announcement by Mathieson rounded off a difficult week for the university, which saw senior officials backtrack on plans to implement compulsory mainland study visits for students after a backlash.
It also saw Executive Council member and former education minister Professor Arthur Li Kwok-cheung, a new member of HKU's ruling council, accuse academics of not doing their jobs properly.
