Hong Kong lawmakers question safety of HK$360 million police software system after breaches at public agencies
- Secretary for Security Chris Tang says centralised digital image platform is a ‘closed-loop system’ equipped with ‘strong anti-hacking capacities’
- Lawmakers concerns prompted by series of online security breaches involving government departments
Hong Kong lawmakers have expressed concerns over whether a new HK$360 million (US$46 million) software system for the police is secure against data leaks amid a series of breaches involving government departments.
But Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung vouched for the new centralised digital image platform for storing digital evidence, saying it was a “closed-loop system” and effective against any data leak.
“The new system ... involves no outside parties. Relatively speaking, it is very secure. We have very strong anti-hacking capacities too,” Tang told lawmakers.
Tang was briefing the Legislative Council’s security panel about two new systems costing over HK$500 million, before lawmakers decided whether to submit them to the Legco’s Financial Committee for approval.
The centralised digital image platform is expected to be completed in five years and cost HK$359 million. It will be used for storing, processing, retrieving and sharing digital images with evidential or intelligence value.
An estimated HK$170,000 will be allocated for the new system’s security risk assessment and audit as well as privacy impact assessment.
Lawmaker Edmund Wong Chun-sek questioned if the amount was “proportionate” to a system that would cost nearly HK$360 million.
Tang replied that the money would be used to foresee any potential risk, and it was a small amount because the new system was “relatively stable”.
The security minister added the total cost for the new system is now 8 per cent lower than previously estimated, at HK$390 million.
Another lawmaker and former security chief Lai Tung-kwok asked if the police would establish a standard procedure for migrating data from the new system to prevent any possible data leaks.
In response, Tang explained that police officers would be required to use designated USBs to transfer external data to the system using the police intranet.
Supervisors for each case were also responsible to ensure content stored in DVDs had to be properly transferred to the new system, he added.
The security minister also told the lawmakers that the new system would help save around HK$80 million annually as it would cut the need for personnel handling digital evidence storage.
Currently, police officers must store videos and images onto DVDs through duplicating stations. These DVDs are then stored in their respective offices as working copies.
A second system authorities sought funding for is the third generation personnel information communal system, which is expected to cost HK$142 million.
Tang justified the spending, saying the US service provider of the second generation system stopped supporting the software in 2021.
The personnel information system handles and processes human resources records for employees including auxiliary police and civilian staff.
Tang said the leak of 3,700 police officers and their families’ data during the 2019 anti-government protests, was largely due to officers’ misconduct which the police addressed with disciplinary action.
