Opening Remarks by Ms. Joyce Mok, Assistant Government Chief Information Officer, at the “2018 ISACA China Hong Kong Chapter Annual Conference”

Mr. Yau (President of ISACA China HK Chapter, Mr. Leroy Yau), Ms Grafenstine (Chair, ISACA International Board of Directors, Ms. Theresa Grafenstine), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning! It is with great pleasure that I welcome the participants of the 2018 ISACA China Hong Kong Annual Conference, in particular all those who come from overseas.

The theme for this year’s conference is “Managing Risk and Security for the Digital Transformation”. Digital business brings forth new opportunities for economic growth and value creation. Today, technology is at the heart of digital business, and data can be used by businesses to store and analyse relevant information to take a competitive advantage over their rivals. With rapid development of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, conversational platforms, edge computing and so on, the quality of living of our citizens and the competitiveness of our businesses have been greatly transformed and enhanced. As Hong Kong is an international financial and business centre, the Government is committed to embracing innovations and technologies to develop Hong Kong into a smart city. As stated in our Smart City Blueprint released last December, we will not only deploy emerging technologies and digital services for the city, but also embrace the development of various digital enablers, among which information security and risk management are the key enablers to sustain the development of a smart city.

With the wide adoption of IT, associated information security risks will pose increasing challenges to corporate systems and data. Last year, there was an upward trend in the number of information security incidents around the world. And Hong Kong was no exception. According to statistics from the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre, or “HKCERT” in short, around six thousand five hundred incidents were received throughout last year, representing an increase of about 7% when compared with 2016. Computer security incidents such as ransomware not only present challenges for both the private and public sectors, but also raise public expectations on the protection of sensitive information by various sectors.

The Government attaches great importance to information and cyber security. To make timely responses to emerging security risks and threats, the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, “OGCIO” in short, assists the public and industries in stepping up their efforts to safeguard cyber security through various means. As an example, OGCIO works closely with HKCERT and relevant stakeholders to disseminate cyber security information and render support to enterprises and the general public to enhance the cyber security capability of the community as a whole.

Timely and effective information sharing is undoubtedly a crucial factor in minimising impacts of emerging cyber attacks. Hence, OGCIO is going to implement a Pilot Partnership Programme for Cyber Security Information Sharing to promote exchange of cyber security information among public and private organisations, with an aim to strengthening Hong Kong’s overall capability in defending against and recovering from cyber attacks. Engagement with stakeholders will start soon and the sharing platform is expected to launch in the second half of this year. Here, I would like to seek your support for, and participation in, the platform so that you can grasp the timely and useful information available on the platform, and share up-to-date materials under your expert domain.

Education and professional training also plays an important role in strengthening Hong Kong’s overall information security capability. The Government is devoted to nurturing professionals and enhancing knowledge among IT practitioners. We will continue to work with professional information security associations to promote professional accreditation among IT practitioners. In this respect, the recognised certification in information security from ISACA helps equip our IT security professionals with proficient knowledge to deliver services of a high quality. I would like to take this opportunity to thank ISACA for organising this special conference with the presence of so many talented lady speakers. To better support women professionals, the Government is fully committed to promoting women’s advancement and gender equality. As far as cyber security is concerned, we will continue to collaborate with ISACA and the industry to inspire IT talents of both genders in Hong Kong through professional education and certification programmes.

Managing risk and security for the digital transformation in today’s cyber world has become a major challenge for all of us. I hope that all stakeholders, regardless of gender, will collaborate in sharing threat information and join hands in combating the challenges of emerging cyber security risks. I wish you all a fruitful and insightful conference. Thank you.

- ENDS -