Call for cybertraining

The five leading IS-related organizations-with the support of Sin Chung Kai-submitted a joint discussion paper to the government in Hong Kong in January 2005. The paper addresses IS issues across a broad range of topics, including: the role of government, IT governance and IS standards, R&D, forensics, collaboration with mainland China, and other crucial issues.

On the subject of security awareness, training and education, the paper said that most training and education opportunities available in Hong Kong are designed for IT professionals and IS practitioners and thus were not suitable for SMEs or the general public. "General awareness initiatives on how to take preventative measures to protect and individual or organization's sensitive/critical information and the way to react to IS-related issues in daily life are considered to be inadequate," it said.

The paper recommended that the HKSAR government: "Implant basic IS concepts through ethical education in primary and secondary schools. This can be achieved by including cyber ethics in the school curriculums, and will provide an established path for every citizen to build up a security sense and accountability from an early age."

Another recommendation: "Organize campaigns targeted to the general public, on a regular basis, to promote the need and importance of protecting information security assets. This can be achieved through producing more radio or TV program series."