Laptops containing millions of Hong Kong voters’ personal data stolen
By GovInsider
Names, ID numbers, addresses and mobile phone numbers were on the devices.
Two laptop computers containing personal information of 3.7 million Hong Kong voters have been stolen from the backup venue of the recent chief executive election, the South China Morning Post reported.
The computers were taken from a locked room at the AsiaWorld-Expo on Lantau Island, which the Registration and Electoral Office as the election’s “fallback venue”, the report said.
The leadership election was held on Sunday, 26 March 2017, at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.
The personal data of the voters could include ID card numbers, addresses and mobile phone numbers. The laptops also contained the names of those on the Election Committee who had selected Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor as the new chief executive of Hong Kong, according to the report.
In a statement, the office stated that there has been no indication that the data, which it stressed was encrypted, had been leaked.
A spokesman for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data said that the office will be launching a probe into the incident, the report said.
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