Security News > 2021 > May > Hong Kong recorded phishing surge in 2020 as scum sought to cash in on viral worries

Criminals tried to exploit Hong Kong residents' COVID-related anxiety, according to new security data released yesterday by the Special Administrative Region's secretary for innovation and technology Alfred Sit.

Liao cited data that the Hong Kong Hospital Authority was subjected to 50 million cyberattacks last year, up from 20 million in 2015, with the HA also copping five ransomware attacks last year.

Sit replied with a breakdown of information security incidents handled by the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre from 2018 until 2020, revealing an overall decrease in attacks, but a surge in phishing.

Phishing cases increased by 66 percent and 35 percent to 3,483 cases.

DDoS attacks remained in the double digits for all three years, but showed a 43 percent increase from 2019 to 2020.

Monetary loss totaled HK$2.964B in 2020 through 12,916 cases, a 55 percent increase in cases from 2019 which pulled in HK$2.907B. Liao's letter inquired about attacks on the healthcare industry, an item of concern after recent application outages in Hong Kong hospitals and April World Health Organization data that recorded a fivefold increase in cyber attacks and a specific incident leaking 450 active WHO email addresses and passwords online.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2021/05/28/hong_kong_cybercrime_stats/