The Registration and Electoral Office of Hong Kong has reported the disappearance of two laptop computers after the chief executive election. The laptops contained around 3.7 million city’s voters personal information that could be compromised after the one of the most significant, if not the biggest ever data breaches in Hong Kong.
The information that was stored on these devices also included the names of 1,200 electors on the Election Committee. These are the names of the people who selected Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor as Hong Kong’s chief executive this Sunday, reports South China Morning Post.
The theft of these two computers apparently happened in the room at the AsiaWorld-Expo on Lantau that was described as the election’s “fallback venue.”
The office has given the official statement concerning the disappearance of the laptops, and in this statement, they claimed that there is no information about any relevant data leaks so far and that the information contained on the laptops had been encrypted.
The situation has been reported to the police around 4.40pm on Monday, and so far it has been treated as theft. Even though the New Territories South regional crime unit is being investigated with possible suspicions concerning the crime, no one has been arrested so far.