The Government attaches great importance to information security and has taken steps to address technology crimes, Secretary for Commerce, Industry & Technology John Tsang says.
Speaking in reply to a question from Legislative Council member Sin Chung-kai, Mr Tsang said technology crimes refer to crimes targeted at computers or computer systems, such as accessing servers without authorisation or defacing websites, and crimes committed via the Internet such as online gambling.
The Police arrested 108 people, including 27 youngsters aged 18 or below, for technology crimes in 2003, he said. That was an increase over the 68 people, including 20 youngsters, arrested for these crimes in 2002. Many of the young people get into trouble over online games.
"Common crimes related to online games include unauthorised change of other online game players' account passwords resulting in loss of control over their accounts, theft of virtual weapons from other online game players' accounts, and refusal to pay or hand over virtual weapons after a virtual weapon transaction."
Professionals, trade associations invited to develop standards
He said the Government has written to professional organisations and trade associations inviting them to consider whether to formulate specific information security standards for their respective industries and establish audit mechanisms to certify compliance with such standards.
It has also invited the online game industry to consider formulating information security standards and an audit mechanism for the industry, to strengthen online games' security levels.
Mr Tsang said the Education & Manpower Bureau developed in 2000 a set of IT learning targets outlining the essential IT knowledge, skills and attitudes that students should acquire at different stages of their schooling.
"One of the targets is that students should be trained to look out for improper and inaccurate information on the Internet and take measures to protect their own information while using the Internet."
He said to provide advice and guidelines on the proper use of computers and Internet, the bureau has set up a "Cyber Ethics for Students and Youth" website.
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