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The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO), the Hong Kong Police Force and the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Co-ordination Centre jointly held a public seminar today (November 21) to share with the community the current trends of cyber security and remind the public to adopt security measures proactively for better protection of their computing devices and information technology (IT) assets.
The seminar was part of the Build a Secure Cyberspace 2014 campaign which is an annual promotional event to raise public awareness of information security. The campaign also features a series of public engagement activities including school visits, seminars, radio programmes and competitions.
The theme of this year's campaign is "Information Security Starts from Me". It focuses on reminding the public that information security starts with every one of us and encouraging people to proactively adopt security measures to protect against cyber threats.
Speaking at the seminar, the Deputy Government Chief Information Officer (Consulting and Operations), Mr Victor Lam, said, "When computing devices, whether they are mobile phones, tablets, personal computers or the IT infrastructure of enterprises, are connected to the Internet, they can be the targets of cyber attacks or can be used by hackers to launch attacks against others.
"In view of the emerging cyber threats, both businesses and individuals should master new knowledge and technologies to protect against cyber attacks and malicious activities."
The one-day seminar comprised several sessions in which representatives from the Government, industry associations and solution providers gave presentations on a range of topics, including enterprise security management, cyber threat protection strategies, security measures for mobile devices, and how to perform a health check on personal computing devices.
In addition to public seminars, an "Information Security Starts from Me" four-panel comic drawing contest was also organised under the Build a Secure Cyberspace campaign this year. Participants had to demonstrate via a four-panel comic the security threats faced by computer users and how they could protect their computing devices and information assets in their daily life.
Mr Lam added, "The contest received an overwhelming response and more than 1 800 entries were received, including more than 1 100 entries from secondary schools. We are pleased to see the comics are of high quality in general. All contestants put a lot of thought into creating the comics. The entries not only present a myriad of creative ideas, but also clearly convey the message of information security.
"It is most encouraging that the entries cover different aspects of information security. This demonstrates that information security awareness in different sectors of our society has been enhanced."
The awards of the drawing contest were presented at today's seminar. Details about the contest and the winning entries are available at
www.infosec.gov.hk/english/promotion/campaign2014_contest.html.
For details on Build a Secure Cyberspace 2014 and its related programmes, please visit www.infosec.gov.hk/english/promotion/campaign2014.html.
Ends/Friday, November 21, 2014
Issued at HKT 19:06
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