South China Athletic Association: Hong Kong privacy watchdog probes data breach involving loss of 70,000 members’ personal information
- Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data urges affected members to report any suspicious activity, a day after leak revealed
- Breach at South China Athletic Association includes possible theft of information such as names, identity card and passport numbers, addresses and contact details
Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog is investigating a large-scale data breach at a prominent sports club involving the loss of about 70,000 members’ personal information, including identity card and passport details.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data on Tuesday also urged members of the South China Athletic Association (SCAA) to report any suspicious activity, a day after the club announced the data leak.
The breach includes possible theft of information such as members’ names, identity card and passport numbers, and addresses, as well as their contact details.
Those affected should stay vigilant and watch out for unusual logins involving their personal emails as well as unauthorised transactions on their bank statements, the office warned.
The SCAA issued an apology on Facebook on Monday night, saying its computer servers had been subject to “unauthorised third-party intrusion” on Sunday.
The club acted immediately to shut down the affected computer equipment to “maximise the protection” of its members’ personal data, it said.