The personal data of over 20,000 Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) staff and students has been stolen after a server at one of the institution’s schools was hacked, the latest in a string of large-scale data breaches in the city.
the server of an online learning system used by CUHK’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies (CUSCS) was hacked on June 3, the school announced in a statement on Thursday.
A total of 20,780 people, including staff, part-time teachers, students, graduates and other visitors, were victims of the data breach.
While their names and email addresses were stolen by hackers, an investigation by cybersecurity professionals showed the data had not been leaked to any online public domains or on the dark web, the school said.
CUHK has reported the incident to the police and the city’s privacy watchdog, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD).
The PCPD said on Thursday that it had received a report from CUHK on Wednesday and a complaint regarding the data breach on Thursday.
Massive data breaches
CUCSC became the third educational institute to fall victim to a data breach this year, amid a recent string of such incidents.
Last month, the Hong Kong Institute of Contemporary Culture Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity, a liberal arts secondary school, said it had discovered a ransomware attack on its servers.
Following the cyberattack, the personal data of over 600 people was leaked.
Earlier in May, the Hong Kong College of Technology said it had suffered a ransomware attack in late February, leading to a data breach involving around 8,100 students.
In April, the private medical facility Union Hospital saw its servers attacked by ransomware called LockBit, resulting in partial operational paralysis, local media outlets reported.
Last year, the government-owned Cyberport and Consumer Council were both targeted by hackers, resulting in massive data breaches.
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