Opening Address by Mr. Victor Lam, JP, Government Chief Information Officer, at the “Information Security Summit 2018”
Willy (Mr. Willy LIN, Chairman, Hong Kong Productivity Council), Charles (Hon Charles MOK, Member of Legislative Council), Gordon (Mr. Gordon LO, Acting Executive Director, Hong Kong Productivity Council), Dale (Mr. Dale JOHNSTONE, Chairman of the Summit’s Organising Committee), distinguished speakers and guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning. It gives me great pleasure to join you today at the Information Security Summit 2018. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the Hong Kong Productivity Council for organising this annual event. The Summit provides an excellent opportunity for industry leaders, security practitioners and professionals to share insights and experience in the cyber security landscape, information security management and industry best practices.
Today, Innovation and Technology (I&T) generates new business opportunities and changes the ways we live and work. I&T has become a key driver for our economic growth as well as smart city development. In particular, such new technologies as Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have become the core drivers of I&T. On the other hand, underpinning our economic growth and smart city development is the proper and competent protection against cyber security threats.
To support the Government's policy on developing Hong Kong into a smart city, the Government provides funding to the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation to establish a smart campus, which will serve as a living laboratory to try out innovative solutions. As cyber security is constantly evolving, solution developers should always keep themselves abreast of the security considerations in the trial use of leading-edge technologies. They should also continuously improve their innovative solutions against the ever-changing cyber threat environment through security by design. We believe that the advancement in I&T together with security by design will not only overcome technical challenges, but also improve the well-being of our society as a whole. Here, I would like to share with you some recent initiatives taken forward by the Government in promoting cyber security in Hong Kong.
To be forerunners, talent is essential in propelling cyber security development. Hence, the Government has all along placed great emphasis on nurturing local talents and enhancing security knowledge and skill sets within the community. For instance, we encourage tertiary institutions to provide more information security programmes in IT-related disciplines. Working with professional information security associations, we also promote professional accreditation among IT practitioners so as to train up more practitioners with professional knowledge and skills in cyber security. As an international city, we welcome talents from around the world with valuable skills, knowledge and experience to work here and bring their talent into full play, which will in turn boost our local talent pool. Just last week [28 August 2018], the Government announced the first Talent List of Hong Kong aiming to attract quality professionals, including experienced cyber security specialists, from all over the world in a more effective and focused manner to support Hong Kong’s development as a high value-added and diversified economy.
As a competitive economy with a robust ICT infrastructure, an innovation-driven economy will help enhance the competitiveness of Hong Kong. To drive sustainable economic growth in the well-connected world today, it is important that cyber security is addressed adequately. In this regard, the Government is going to officially launch the “Cybersec Infohub” on 24 September, which is a community-driven collaborative, partnership programme built among Government, industry and academia to facilitate effective exchange of cyber security threat information, mitigation strategies, best practices and knowledge. Here, I would like to encourage all participants of today’s summit to represent your companies or organisations to join the programme. Through the programme, you can actively share your knowledge and information on security-related matters, which will definitely help enhance the overall cyber resilience of Hong Kong.
Lastly, I wish the event every success and I am sure this will be a very rewarding experience for all the participants. Thank you.
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