By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-01-20 11:01:32 | Updated at 2025-01-20 13:47:04
2 hours ago
The number of cybersecurity cases in Hong Kong hit a five-year high last year as hackers weaponised artificial intelligence (AI) to manipulate data systems and generate malware, according to an information security watchdog.
The Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre (HKCERT) on Monday said phishing cases accounted for more than half of all security incidents last year.
The government-funded group handled 12,536 cybersecurity incidents in 2024, up 62 per cent from 7,752 cases in 2023, marking a five-year high. The number of phishing cases more than doubled to 7,811 from the 3,752 in 2023.
Alex Chan Chung-man, general manager of HKCERT’s digital transformation division, said nearly a quarter of the phishing attacks focused on banking, finance and e-payment services.
Social media and instant messaging apps like WhatsApp also made up another 22 per cent of the cases.
The number of URLs related to phishing last year exceeded 48,000, increasing by about 1½ times from 2023.
