Security incidents in Hong Kong involving botnets and hacking attacks surged as much as 94% in the first six months of the year, government figures suggest.
Botnets and hacking were involved in over half (51%) of all security incidents handled by the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Co-ordination Centre (HKCERT) during the period.
HKCERT also published 246 security alerts between January and June, according to figures released by the public sector organization.
Total security breaches increased 12% year-on-year to 622 incidents. The increase in cases involving botnets is partially due to HKCERT's involvement in the Microsoft-led global initiative to take down the Citadel botnets that had been targeting consumer financial information.
Public concerns
With cloud usage increasing and m-payment services gaining traction, mobile and cloud-based attacks are meanwhile becoming more popular, HKCERT warned. DDoS attacks are also on the rise.
In the face of growing public concern over cyber threats, HKCERT senior consultant Leung Siu-Cheong has offered a series of security tips for organizations and individuals.
“Enterprises and internet users should make it a habit to maintain the security patches of their personal computers and servers... and adopt firewalls and anti-malware software,” he said.