Laptops containing 3.7 million Hong Kong voters’ data were stolen after chief executive election. Devices contained ID card numbers, addresses and mobile numbers, writes www.scmp.com .
In what could be one of Hong Kong’s most significant data breaches ever, the personal information of the city’s 3.7 million voters was possibly compromised after the Registration and Electoral Office reported two laptop computers went missing at its backup venue for the chief executive election.
The devices also stored the names of the 1,200 electors on the Election Committee who selected Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor as Hong Kong’s new chief executive on Sunday.
The two computers were stolen from a room at the AsiaWorld-Expo on Lantau, which the office described as the election’s “fallback venue”.
The leadership election was held on Sunday at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.
While the committee members’ full names are publicly available information, the personal data of Hong Kong’s voters could include their ID card numbers, addresses and mobile phone numbers.
The office said the computers had been put in a locked room. It reported the case to police.
In a statement, the office said there had so far been no information to indicate that the relevant data had been “leaked”. It also stressed the data had been encrypted.
Police said they received a report about the stolen computers around 4.40pm Monday. The case was being treated as theft and no arrests had been made. New Territories South regional crime unit was investigating.
