Study: Security areas brands need to be wary of in HK

Many brands are rolling out NFT products and strengthening their offerings in the Metaverse, but the underlying risk could be an issue to brands and customers. A recent survey conducted by the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre (HKCERT) highlighted that information security needs closer attention for 2022.

According to the report, in 2021, HKCERT handled 7,725 security incidents. There were 3,737 phishing cases last year, representing 48% of the total number of incidents and up 7% from 2020. Such incidents rose for the fourth consecutive year and reached a new height. More than 70% of the incidents involved online shopping or online banking. The second most common incident was botnets (3,479 cases, 45%), about half of which belonged to the Avalanche botnet. On the positive side, botnet incidents fell by 16% from 2020. The main reason for this was that 35 regions joined forces in 2020 to successfully destroy Necurs, one of the world’s largest botnets, thereby ensuring locally connected devices infected with this virus are no longer under its control.
In 2022, the centre highlighted five trends that the public needs to take note of, including the security risk of the Metaverse and NFT, as well as cryptocurrencies. These are

1. Security risks of cryptocurrencies
2. Security risks of Metaverse
3. Security risks brought by emerging technologies
4. Supply chain attacks
5. Targeted and organised cyber attacks

According to the centre, NFT and metaverse involve a new type of virtual assets storage, a huge volume of transactions and large amount of data exchange. Hence, information security of their related networks will receive more attention.

Moreover, as the value of cryptocurrencies and related markets continue to escalate and expand, criminals may seize the opportunity to steal sensitive user information, access their accounts and transfer currency to other accounts, or even use the information for other malicious purposes.

"In this digital era with the popularisation and application of 5G, AI, and QR codes, continuous expansion of NFT and cryptocurrency markets, and digital integration of supply chains, both individuals and enterprises must continue to improve their information security awareness and response capability," said Alex Chan, general manager, digital transformation of the Hong Kong Productivity Council and spokesman of HKCERT.

Other areas that HKCERT mentioned include cyberattacks that seize on the wider use and potential security vulnerabilities of emerging technologies, such as 5G, the Internet of Things, AI, QR code, will become more diversified, including AI fraud and QR code login-based account jacking attacks. Supply chain attacks that compromise end-target organisations by attacking third-party service providers; and more targeted and organised cyber attacks with multiple ransomware and phishing attacks targeting individual industries can be expected too.

"Enterprises should raise the awareness of information security risks of partners and service providers, and strengthen their monitoring of third-party suppliers and application software, and understand their risks, so as to improve the security defence mechanism to deal with supply chain attacks. In addition, regular assessment on network security and systems, and monitoring the configuration of all devices connected to the Internet are essential," Chan said.

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