VTech and Hong Kong’s cyber laws

VTech is a multi-billion-dollar global supplier of electronic toys and learning products for children, and reportedly the world’s biggest manufacturer of cordless telephones. In short, it is a giant company producing high-tech electronic goods – surely, you might think, capable of fending off a cyber-attack.

However, in November 2015, the company’s learning products store was hacked, leading to a massive data breach in which millions of customers’ personal information, including children’s profiles, was compromised. On 1 December 2015, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data in Hong Kong (Privacy Commissioner) announced that it had launched an investigation. A 21-year-old man has been arrested in the UK in connection with the incident .