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The Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) made the following announcement today (August 11) regarding an officer having lost a notebook computer storing certain personal data:
The official notebook computer of an officer of OFTA was stolen this morning in Wan Chai. The computer is password-protected. Stored therein is an internal manual of the Emergency Response System (ERS) of OFTA. The manual sets out OFTA's internal guidelines and procedures in handling emergency incidents with possible impact on public telecommunications services, and contains inter alia the personal data of the ERS team members, including their names, post titles, office and mobile phone numbers and fax, email or postal addresses. Similar details of the representatives of telecommunications network operators, other government bureaux/departments, Islands District Council, Rural Committees, villages and schools are also listed in the manual. The total number of persons affected is around 550.
OFTA has reported the case to the Police, the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data. And, with profuse apologies, OFTA has also notified the affected persons of the incident in the first instance.
OFTA would wish to express again its regret and sincerest apology for the incident. It will conduct a thorough investigation with a view to avoiding recurrence of similar incidents. It will also step up efforts in reminding staff members to follow the best practices in respect of the protection of personal data.
Ends/Thursday, August 11, 2011
Issued at HKT 19:57
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