bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

knowledgeQuestion

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Zen Soo

Experts see big data as a means to boost information security among Hong Kong companies, an issue that has come to the fore in the wake of a huge data breach at local toymaker VTech.
VTech said Monday that its database was hacked, exposing five million customer accounts, mostly belonging to parents, and the profiles of nearly 6.4 million kids worldwide.
The cybersecurity breach - the biggest in the city for at least five years - highlighted the indifference that companies in Hong Kong adopt towards cybersecurity .
But experts say that firms can harness big data to further protect people's privacy by taking into account patterns produced by their information technology equipment. This would minimise the unnecessary storage of data and make less data anonymous, they claim.
READ MORE: ‘Who owns it is almost secondary’: Hong Kong-based entrepreneurs share tips on ways of monetising big data
Data centre equipment, databases, software programmes and even email services are constantly producing logs that keep track of the activity and movement of data, said Ronald Raffensperger, chief technology officer for data centre solutions at Chinese smartphone and electronics maker Huawei.

“Nobody ever has time to look at them. But if you take all of these files into a big data environment, you can utilise the insights you get,” Raffensperger said at the South China Morning Post’s fourth Game Changers event in Hong Kong on Thursday.
“You can start seeing when people are doing things that they shouldn’t,” he said.
“And you can find out who is accessing that information and raise flags.”
Howard Kwong, chief technology officer for Delivery Republic, a Hong Kong-based business-to-business food delivery start-up, said his company can guarantee data privacy.
“In food delivery, we know how much you ordered, how frequently, and how much you spend,” said Kwong.
“But by anonymising this data and using it to [identify] trends, it [resolves the privacy issue],” he added.
Kwong said it is important to set clear parameters of what companies are permitted to do with the data in order to protect people’s privacy.
Mark Chan, managing partner of digital marketing firm CMRS Digital Solutions, said his company ensures security by crossing various data sets to create a different set of data points. This new data is then assessed in real-time rather than stored on the company’s database.


Behind Hong Kong’s hippest homegrown brands: meet the Instagram influencers who founded Clot fashion label, Woke Up Like This skincare, EightyEight salon and more

Will Alpha’s vegan nuggets turn non-vegans on to a plant-based diet?

Propelling Start-ups to New Heights

Investors urged to play a stronger role in developing Hong Kong start-ups

Game Changers

VTech hack in Hong Kong sees industry experts urge firms to lean more on big data to boost cybersecurity

No Caption Available.

The SCMP’s technology news editor George Chen (left) moderates a panel including Gautam Bardoloi, Ronald Raffensperger, Howard Kwong and Mark Chan at the SCMP’s fourth Game Changers forum in Hong Kong on Thursday. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Tech

Innovation