Sports stars and fans hit by foul play in awards vote
The personal data of more than 2,800 people who voted online for the sports stars of the year last year were leaked by hackers, police revealed last night.
The Commercial Crime Bureau found information on the voters as well as an undisclosed number of the sports star nominees on a website that they did not name.
Officers believe the information was obtained by hacking the website of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, the host of the awards, a police spokesman said.
The leaked data included names, identity card numbers, dates of birth, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and home addresses of nominated athletes and the thousands who participated in the online voting between January 7 and January 31 last year for the best sports stars of 2011.
Those who took part in the associated Samsung Guess the Winners Contest, from February 1 to February 7 last year, were also involved.
The federation said it learned about the leak from the police on Monday and would report it to the Privacy Commissioner.
"The federation has requested all contractors of the federation events' websites inspect their security systems immediately," it said.
Meanwhile, it would evaluate the security management of all personal data on its websites.
Hong Kong Olympic Committee president Timothy Fok Tsun-ting spoke last night of the importance of keeping personal data well protected.
Cyclist Kwok Ho-ting won the top honour for 2011, which was presented in February last year.
