{"id":41115,"date":"2021-05-28T04:56:44","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T04:56:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/hong-kong-recorded-phishing-surge-in-2020-as-scum-sought-to-cash-in-on-viral-worries\/"},"modified":"2021-05-28T04:56:44","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T04:56:44","slug":"hong-kong-recorded-phishing-surge-in-2020-as-scum-sought-to-cash-in-on-viral-worries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/hong-kong-recorded-phishing-surge-in-2020-as-scum-sought-to-cash-in-on-viral-worries\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong recorded phishing surge in 2020 as scum sought to cash in on viral worries"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Criminals tried to exploit Hong Kong residents&#8217; COVID-related anxiety, according to new security data released yesterday by the Special Administrative Region&#8217;s secretary for innovation and technology Alfred Sit.<\/p>\n<p>The secretary disclosed the data in response to a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.info.gov.hk\/gia\/general\/202105\/26\/P2021052600348.htm\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">letter<\/a> to the Legislative Council from barrister and non-official member of the Executive Council, Martin Liao.<\/p>\n<p>Liao cited data that the Hong Kong Hospital Authority (HA) was subjected to 50 million cyberattacks last year, up from 20 million in 2015, with the HA also copping five ransomware attacks last year. He asked the government to provide more details on current cybersecurity trends.<\/p>\n<div aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"adun\" data-pos=\"top\" data-raptor=\"condor\" data-xsm=\",fluid,mpu,\" data-sm=\",fluid,mpu,\" data-md=\",fluid,leaderboard,mpu,\" data-lg=\",fluid,leaderboard,\" data-xlg=\",fluid,superleaderboard,billboard,leaderboard,\"> <noscript> <a href=\"https:\/\/pubads.g.doubleclick.net\/gampad\/jump?co=1&amp;iu=\/6978\/reg_security\/front&amp;sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&amp;tile=2&amp;c=2YLIxsk-4b9RoIxjtIWrdPgAAAAo&amp;t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pubads.g.doubleclick.net\/gampad\/ad?co=1&amp;iu=\/6978\/reg_security\/front&amp;sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&amp;tile=2&amp;c=2YLIxsk-4b9RoIxjtIWrdPgAAAAo&amp;t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0\" alt> <\/a> <\/noscript> <\/div>\n<div aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"adun\" data-pos=\"top\" data-raptor=\"falcon\" data-xxlg=\",fluid,billboard,superleaderboard,brandwidth,brandimpact,leaderboard,mpu,\"> <noscript> <a href=\"https:\/\/pubads.g.doubleclick.net\/gampad\/jump?co=1&amp;iu=\/6978\/reg_security\/front&amp;sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&amp;tile=4&amp;c=44YLIxsk-4b9RoIxjtIWrdPgAAAAo&amp;t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pubads.g.doubleclick.net\/gampad\/ad?co=1&amp;iu=\/6978\/reg_security\/front&amp;sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&amp;tile=4&amp;c=44YLIxsk-4b9RoIxjtIWrdPgAAAAo&amp;t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D426raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0\" alt> <\/a> <\/noscript> <\/div>\n<div class=\"adun_eagle_desktop_story_wrapper\">\n<div aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"adun\" data-pos=\"mid\" data-raptor=\"eagle\" data-xxlg=\",mpu,dmpu,\"> <noscript> <a href=\"https:\/\/pubads.g.doubleclick.net\/gampad\/jump?co=1&amp;iu=\/6978\/reg_security\/front&amp;sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&amp;tile=3&amp;c=33YLIxsk-4b9RoIxjtIWrdPgAAAAo&amp;t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pubads.g.doubleclick.net\/gampad\/ad?co=1&amp;iu=\/6978\/reg_security\/front&amp;sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&amp;tile=3&amp;c=33YLIxsk-4b9RoIxjtIWrdPgAAAAo&amp;t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0\" alt> <\/a> <\/noscript> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Sit replied with a breakdown of information security incidents handled by the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre (HKCERT) from 2018 until 2020, revealing an overall decrease in attacks, but a surge in phishing.<\/p>\n<p>Incident numbers fell from 10,081 in 2018 to 9,458 in 2019 and 8,346 in 2020. Phishing cases increased by 66 percent (2018 to 2019) and 35 percent to 3,483 cases (2019 to 2020). Malicious software reduced by 85 percent from 1,219 cases in 2019 to 181 cases in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Secretary Sit stated:<\/p>\n<p>DDoS attacks remained in the double digits for all three years, but showed a 43 percent increase from 2019 to 2020. Sit chalks that up to an \u201cincrease in the \u2018attack surfaces\u2019 resulting from the provision of more online services by various sectors during the epidemic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The secretary also disclosed data on cybercrimes handled by the Hong Kong Police Force. Those numbers revealed that e-shopping fraud and romance scams have pulled in less money per scam, but found more victims in 2020 than in 2019. Monetary loss totaled HK$2.964B (US$382M) in 2020 through 12,916 cases, a 55 percent increase in cases from 2019 which pulled in HK$2.907B (US$374M).<\/p>\n<p>Liao\u2019s 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 (WHO) data that <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/news\/item\/23-04-2020-who-reports-fivefold-increase-in-cyber-attacks-urges-vigilance%20e\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recorded<\/a> a fivefold increase in cyber attacks and a specific incident leaking 450 active WHO email addresses and passwords online.<\/p>\n<div aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"adun\" data-pos=\"top\" data-raptor=\"falcon\" data-xsm=\",fluid,mpu,\" data-sm=\",fluid,mpu,\" data-md=\",fluid,leaderboard,mpu,\" data-lg=\",fluid,mpu,leaderboard,\" data-xlg=\",fluid,billboard,superleaderboard,mpu,leaderboard,\"> <noscript> <a href=\"https:\/\/pubads.g.doubleclick.net\/gampad\/jump?co=1&amp;iu=\/6978\/reg_security\/front&amp;sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&amp;tile=4&amp;c=44YLIxsk-4b9RoIxjtIWrdPgAAAAo&amp;t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pubads.g.doubleclick.net\/gampad\/ad?co=1&amp;iu=\/6978\/reg_security\/front&amp;sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&amp;tile=4&amp;c=44YLIxsk-4b9RoIxjtIWrdPgAAAAo&amp;t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D426raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0\" alt> <\/a> <\/noscript> <\/div>\n<p>Ransomware is also a concern in the healthcare industry, and some operators of the software have <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theregister.com\/2020\/03\/19\/ransomware_health_organisations\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pledged<\/a> not to target medical organisations during the current pandemic. However, both <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theregister.com\/2021\/05\/19\/new_zealand_hospitals_taken_down\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Zealand&#8217;s Waikato District Health Board<\/a> and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theregister.com\/2021\/05\/14\/ireland_hse_ransomware_hospital_conti_wizardspider\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ireland&#8217;s nationalized health service<\/a> were attacked by ransomware earlier this month. \u00ae<\/p>\n<p> READ MORE <a href=\"https:\/\/go.theregister.com\/feed\/www.theregister.com\/2021\/05\/28\/hong_kong_cybercrime_stats\/\">HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Special Administrative Region recorded plunge in ransomware attacks Criminals tried to exploit Hong Kong residents&#8217; COVID-related anxiety, according to new security data released yesterday by the Special Administrative Region&#8217;s secretary for innovation and technology Alfred Sit.\u2026 READ MORE HERE&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-register"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Hong Kong recorded phishing surge in 2020 as scum sought to cash in on viral worries 2026 | ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News | ThreatsHub.org | Cloud Security &amp; Cyber Threats Analysis Hub. 100% Free OSINT Threat Intelligent and Cybersecurity News.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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