Forty three percent of organizations observed in Hong Kong were targeted with advanced cyberattacks in the second half of 2015, according to IT security firm FireEye.
The territory is getting significant attention from advanced persistent threat (APT) groups, said Michael Chue, the company general manager for Greater China Region.
“Hong Kong-based companies are nearly three times more likely to be exposed to an advanced attack than the global average of 15%,” he added, citing FireEye latest research.
The IT security firm has observed tools associated with at least seven APT groups and another 13 other potential threat groups that have targeted organizations in Hong Kong since the start of 2014.
The latest research showed that financial services, logistic and media are the top three most-exposed sectors in Hong Kong.
“Sadly, Hong Kong lags behind Japan, Singapore and South Korea in terms of security awareness. We need to look at the impact of these security threats because we sit right in the middle of the region’s commerce and finance. We need to be aware of what we are exposing without understanding the risk,” he said.
He added: “A lot of CIOs and CSOs are still leveraging signature-based solutions when what they need now is to be protected from behavior-based attacks.”
Bryce Boland, FireEye chief technology officer for Asia Pacific noted that Hong Kong is a perfect target for advanced attackers.”
“It’s a global business hub with simmering political tensions which create uncertainty. It’s also in close proximity to advanced, prolific threat actors with an interest in Hong Kong’s political and economic development,” he said.