Cybersecurity threats are increasing in Hong Kong as victims lose money to fraudsters, a study shows

Hong Kong has seen a sharp increase in online threats this year, with fraud, phishing and malware among the most common attacks, while a lack of cybersecurity awareness continues to plague the city, according to the study.

Forty-nine percent of respondents in Hong Kong have experienced online threats in the past 12 months, up from 40 percent in the previous period, according to the latest report by antivirus vendor Norton.

Scams were the most common online threat, affecting 34 percent of survey respondents. As a result, almost two-thirds of victims lost money or time. The next most common threats, phishing and malware, affected 28 percent of respondents, according to the US company, a subsidiary of Nasdaq-listed software company Gen Digital.

In July, Hong Kong police said financial losses from online fraud increased by 37% year-on-year in the first five months of 2024, even though the number of incidents increased by less than 1%.