Media Statements

Response of the Privacy Commissioner’s Office
on the SCAA’s Data Breach Incident
 

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) received a data breach notification from the South China Athletic Association (SCAA) yesterday (18 March), reporting that about 70,000 data subjects may have been affected by the data breach incident. The PCPD has advised the relevant organisation to notify the affected data subjects as soon as possible, and has commenced an investigation into the incident in accordance with established procedures.
 
Having considered that the incident may involve the leakage of personal data, which include names, Hong Kong Identity Card numbers, passport numbers, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and photos, the PCPD appeals to the affected persons to make enquiries or complaints with the relevant organisation or the PCPD (telephone: 2827 2827 or email: communications@pcpd.org.hk) if they suspect that their personal data have been leaked.   
 
The PCPD calls on the affected persons to be vigilant of potential theft of their personal data and take the following measures to protect personal data privacy:

• Consider changing the passwords of online accounts and activate the multi-factor authentication feature (if available);
• Beware of any unusual logins of personal emails;
• Review bank statements to spot any unauthorised transactions;
• Stay vigilant when they receive any suspicious calls, text messages or emails from unknown sources;
• Do not arbitrarily open attachments or links in text messages or emails, or disclose personal data readily; and
• Be vigilant against phishing or other possible scams.