SKDO reports incident of loss of participant data by event contractor

     â€‹The Sai Kung District Office (SKDO) announced today (September 23) an incident involving loss of participant data by an event contractor.

     The SKDO was organising a youth volunteer training event (the Event) entitled the "2023/24 Sai Kung Youth Ambassador Training Programme – Sai Kung Navigators", which involved a non-profit making district organisation, the Sai Kung District Community Centre (the Centre), as a contractor.
 
     The Centre reported to the SKDO yesterday afternoon (September 22) that a staff member of the Centre had lost a portable device (USB) at a library of the City University of Hong Kong on September 10. The device contains the name, age, gender, contact number, email address, residential address, school/institution attended, name and contact number of the guardian(s) of 50 Event participants. The SKDO was also informed that the Centre had reported the incident to the Police on September 12 and reported the matter to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) on September 18.

     The SKDO promptly reported the incident to the PCPD and the Police upon receipt of the report by the Centre on September 22. The SKDO is contacting all the affected participants and their families to offer apologies and explain the incident. Meanwhile, a hotline (6278 0536) has been set up for persons affected to make enquiries. The SKDO has also immediately suspended the aforementioned event.

     The SKDO sincerely apologises to the persons affected for any inconvenience caused and will conduct a thorough investigation to prevent similar incidents from recurring. The SKDO has issued a severe reprimand to the contractor concerned for the incident and for not reporting the incident to the SKDO promptly. The SKDO has requested the contractor to submit a detailed report and take all necessary measures to prevent further leakage of the data involved. The SKDO will not allow the concerned contractor to bid or organise any other activities of the SKDO until it has taken satisfactory measures to prevent similar incidents from recurring.