Latest news with #Scameter
RTHK
5 days ago
- Business
- RTHK
Caution urged for critical infrastructure over threats
Caution urged for critical infrastructure over threats Police say they received 440,000 intelligence reports on cyber threats targeting Hong Kong last year. Photo: RTHK Police have called on critical infrastructure operators to bolster their defensive efforts against cyber threats, after a number of firms were deemed to be vulnerable. The force said it inspected 90,000 assets controlled by critical infrastructure firms last year and discovered more than 4,500 loopholes in their systems. Officers identified three types of loopholes which are particularly risky. "First of all it's the employees' log-in credentials, that they are leaked or stolen because they don't have a very good mechanism in ensuring that these kind of credentials are in a high level [of protection]," senior superintendent Carmen Leung said. "And second, some organisations did not properly manage their domain and subdomain, allowing attacker to hijack those unused subdomains and create highly convincing phishing or scam websites. "And for the third part, we noticed some organisations having some misconfigured cloud storage service and unintentionally exposed their internal system in a web-facing environment." She said these organisations took remedial measures after being warned by the force, and no harm was done to their major services. Police said they received 440,000 tip-offs regarding Hong Kong-related cyber threats last year. The top three industries to be targeted were banking and finance, communication, and government departments. Superintendent Baron Chan stressed that a "useful and powerful preventive mechanism" is in place. "Luckily, under our protection mechanism, we collect these intelligence in a very earlier stage and we do analysis and then share [them] among our stakeholders, so that these intelligence can be used by different sectors, even though they are not the targets of these bad actors," he said. Police said they recorded 7,680 technology crime cases from January to March, up 1.1 percent year on year. The cases, most of which involved online shopping, inflicted losses of more than HK$1.43 billion. Officers urged shoppers to make use police's Scameter app to check the validity of recipients before making financial transactions. Police also issued their first ever cybersecurity report, which can be viewed online. It covers SAR and global cybersecurity trends, together with predictions in the coming year.
RTHK
5 days ago
- Business
- RTHK
Caution urged for critical infrastructure over threats
Caution urged for critical infrastructure over threats Police say they received 440,000 intelligence reports on cyber threats targeting Hong Kong last year. Photo: RTHK Police have called on critical infrastructure operators to bolster their defensive efforts against cyber threats, after a number of firms were deemed to be vulnerable. The force said it inspected 90,000 assets controlled by critical infrastructure firms last year and discovered more than 4,500 loopholes in their systems. Officers identified three types of loopholes which are particularly risky. "First of all it's the employees' log-in credentials, that they are leaked or stolen because they don't have a very good mechanism in ensuring that these kind of credentials are in a high level [of protection]," senior superintendent Carmen Leung said. "And second, some organisations did not properly manage their domain and subdomain, allowing attacker to hijack those unused subdomains and create highly convincing phishing or scam websites. "And for the third part, we noticed some organisations having some misconfigured cloud storage service and unintentionally exposed their internal system in a web-facing environment." She said these organisations took remedial measures after being warned by the force, and no harm was done to their major services. Police said they received 440,000 tip-offs regarding Hong Kong-related cyber threats last year. The top three industries to be targeted were banking and finance, communication, and government departments. Superintendent Baron Chan stressed that a "useful and powerful preventive mechanism" is in place. "Luckily, under our protection mechanism, we collect these intelligence in a very earlier stage and we do analysis and then share [them] among our stakeholders, so that these intelligence can be used by different sectors, even though they are not the targets of these bad actors," he said. Police said they recorded 7,680 technology crime cases from January to March, up 1.1 percent year on year. The cases, most of which involved online shopping, inflicted losses of more than HK$1.43 billion. Officers urged shoppers to make use police's Scameter app to check the validity of recipients before making financial transactions. Police also issued their first ever cybersecurity report, which can be viewed online. It covers SAR and global cybersecurity trends, together with predictions in the coming year.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hong Kong authorities unveil measures to combat financial crime
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF), and The Hong Kong Association of Banks (HKAB) have jointly introduced a series of new initiatives aimed at preventing, identifying, and disrupting financial crimes such as fraud and the use of mule accounts. These include expanding the use of Scameter data, which helps banks identify suspicious accounts and notify at-risk customers, enabling them to take preventive steps. Additional initiatives include information sharing between banks and the adoption of best practices for anti-fraud measures, aiming to bolster the capacity of banks to detect and prevent fraud and money laundering linked to scams. The new approach also involves conducting thematic reviews to assist banks in establishing stronger anti-fraud systems. Public awareness campaigns, including the "Don't Lend/Sell Your Account" message, will be ramped up to raise awareness and reduce the risk of account misuse. To enhance the effectiveness of these efforts, the HKMA, HKPF, and the banking industry will step up public outreach activities. The creation of the Anti-fraud Education Taskforce, led by the HKAB, will coordinate educational efforts across 18 major banks to target high-risk customer groups. The HKMA and HKPF will continue to collaborate closely with banks and other relevant parties to improve the detection and prevention of financial crime in Hong Kong. The move comes as fraud escalates in both scale and complexity, with criminals increasingly taking advantage of technology to exploit victims more swiftly and broadly, highlighted HKMA. In 2024, Hong Kong reported 44,480 cases of deception, an 11.7% rise compared to 2023. Moreover, 10,496 individuals were apprehended last year in relation to various fraud and money laundering offences. Around 7,700 of those arrested were involved in selling or permitting their accounts to be used for money laundering, showing a 13.6% increase from the year before. "Hong Kong authorities unveil measures to combat financial crime" was originally created and published by Retail Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Sign in to access your portfolio
South China Morning Post
10-04-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong banks to get new powers to trace, flag suspicious accounts linked to scams
Hong Kong banks will be granted powers to trace and flag suspicious accounts linked to scams by exchanging information with police, putting questionable transactions on hold and having officers meet clients in person. Advertisement The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on Thursday revealed a new system for information exchange as a part of joint efforts with police to clamp down on scams and money laundering crime amid rising deception cases in recent years. The city's de facto central bank executive director Raymond Chan King-wang said the force would share with banks the suspicious phone numbers and email addresses already stored in Scameter, a search engine platform launched by police in 2022. The banks will then flag corresponding accounts that match those credentials to review account activities, monitor future transactions, and report the newly-identified suspicious accounts to police. 'Through this continuous cycle, we hope to find out and uproot the mule accounts from all the banks,' Chan said. Advertisement The executive director said that once bank staff were alerted of a transaction made to a suspicious account, they would contact account holders and tell them that a pending transaction would be temporarily put on hold. The clients would be asked to go to the bank for a meeting.
