Per HKCERT's 2026 Outlook, Hong Kong handled 15,877 security incidents in 2025, up 27% year on year and an all-time high. Phishing made up nearly 60% (57%) and is still the top attack type; generative AI makes phishing harder to spot and has spread attacks to WhatsApp and crypto platforms. Verizon's 2025 DBIR also found 60% of confirmed breaches involved human error, and SMEs, with their weaker defences, are often the easier target.
The three pillars of information security: confidentiality (preventing unauthorised disclosure), integrity (preventing unauthorised change) and availability (ensuring reliable access for authorised people). UD's hard-won lesson is that every security plan should address all three at once, so you don't over-invest in one while leaving a blind spot in another.
Attacks on Hong Kong businesses span three layers: the network layer (mainly DoS / DDoS); the application layer (mainly the OWASP Top 10, including SQL injection and cross-site scripting); and the human layer (phishing and social engineering, extending to malware and ransomware). Each layer needs a different solution, and no single line of defence covers them all.
Yes. Attackers may pick targets for extortion, competition, protest, or simply to practise, so site size isn't decisive. SMEs are often easier to compromise because their defences are weaker. Start with a free UDetective website scan to gauge your own risk.
UDetective is UD's free website security scanner: enter a URL to get a tailored security report, already used by over 2,000 Hong Kong businesses. The scan doesn't affect your site, the report is emailed instantly, and it answers three key questions: does the site have known vulnerabilities? Are SSL and encryption configured safely? Is any sensitive information exposed? It's a good entry assessment before a pen test or vulnerability scan.
A four-step self-assessment: start with a free UDetective scan for an initial risk picture; government departments and funded bodies build a compliance baseline with SRAA; general businesses find technical flaws with a pen test and human weak spots with phishing tests; then deploy firewall, DDoS protection and SSL as needed, keeping continuous monitoring with quarterly vulnerability scans.
| Dimension | Pen test | Vuln scan | SRAA audit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Method | White-hat, manual | Scanner, automated | Consultant framework audit |
| Approach | Depth-first · attack chain | Breadth-first · known CVEs | Governance & compliance, end to end |
| Frequency | Yearly / on major change | Quarterly / continuous | Per compliance cycle |
| Deliverable | Attack-chain report | CVE & config list | SRA + SA compliance report |
| Typical use | Technical risk validation | Continuous monitoring | Government / compliance |
A vulnerability scan is automated, broad detection, with wide coverage but limited depth, mainly identifying known CVEs and configuration gaps; a pen test is hands-on, with white-hats simulating attacks in depth, chaining several low-risk flaws into a full attack path and verifying business-logic flaws. Best practice is quarterly scans plus an annual pen test.
At least once a year. Add one at these moments: before a new system or site goes live, after major architecture changes (cloud migration, core-system upgrade), before a compliance audit (ISO 27001, PCI-DSS, HKMA), during M&A due diligence, and after a suspicious incident.
Yes. UD reports follow OWASP, PTES and NIST standards and can map to ISO 27001 Annex A, PCI-DSS Requirement 11.3, HKMA TM-G-1 and PDPO Principle 4, and have been cited successfully for multinational banks, listed-company audits and the Privacy Commissioner's office.
Priced by scope. When you enquire, note the target system types (website, mobile app, network, intranet, etc.), rough size, compliance target and expected timing. The standard cycle is 4 to 5 weeks and includes retest verification.
Yes. First, independence: a team testing its own systems has a conflict of interest, while an external tester carries audit weight. Second, attacker-perspective expertise: white-hats handle hundreds of engagements a year and know the latest techniques. Third, compliance: PCI-DSS, ISO 27001 and others explicitly require an independent third party.
| Compliance regime | Pen test | Vuln scan | SRAA | Phishing | Network |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HKPDPO | |||||
| HKMA | |||||
| PCI-DSS | |||||
| ISO 27001 | |||||
| DPO |
SRAA (Security Risk Assessment & Audit) is the compliance audit report the Hong Kong government requires from all departments and government-funded bodies, run to DPO ISPG-SM01 and made up of two parallel services, SRA (risk assessment) and SA (security audit). It applies to bureaux and departments, government-funded NGOs / NPOs, government suppliers, and private firms that voluntarily adopt the framework.
The five compliance regimes Hong Kong businesses face, each with a different focus: HKPDPO: Enforced by the PCPD; organisations handling Hong Kong residents' personal data must follow six data-protection principles, with breach penalties of up to HK$1M and criminal offences carrying imprisonment. HKMA: Banking cyber-defence requirements such as TM-G-1 / TM-E-1, including regular pen testing, vulnerability scanning and incident reporting. PCI-DSS: Organisations handling card data must scan quarterly, pen test annually and deploy a WAF. ISO 27001: International information-security management certification covering 14 Annex A domains, raising security maturity and tender competitiveness. DPO ISPG-SM01: The IT-security standard government departments and funded bodies must follow; SRAA is run against it.
Yes. The SRAA framework was built for government bodies but works just as well for private firms, as ISO 27001 preparation, HKMA readiness, PDPO compliance or internal IT governance, raising governance maturity and shortening the path to formal certification later.
This new Hong Kong law requires critical-infrastructure operators, across energy, banking, transport, telecoms, healthcare, government and more, to secure their computer systems, with penalties of up to HK$5M. Regulated bodies should run an SRAA assessment now, deploy 24/7 monitoring and strengthen perimeter defences.
Certification typically takes 6 to 18 months, depending on maturity and scope. UD helps with gap analysis, validating technical controls via pen testing, supporting the ISMS documentation with SRAA, and meeting continuous-monitoring requirements with vulnerability scans. The certificate itself is issued by an accredited body; UD is your technical-assessment and preparation partner.
Three stages: a simulated attack (phishing emails tailored to your industry, departments and workflows, sent at a set time); a victim report (behavioural data on opens, clicks and data submission, with a dashboard and department comparison); and awareness training (UD security experts teaching on-site at your office).
At least one full test a year, plus a small sampled test every six months. Add one after major organisational change (a wave of new hires, a reorganisation, a new system going live).
Experience shows staff who are trained afterwards come to appreciate the company taking awareness seriously. We work with HR to prepare the communication in advance and use a non-judgemental, educational approach: the point is education, not punishment, and staff who fall for it get focused follow-up training.
On-site by default, taught by UD security experts at your office; multi-branch or cross-border organisations can use a hybrid mode (local in-person plus video for branches). Online self-study videos aren't part of the standard package.
A firewall (NGFW) works at the network layer (L3 / L4), filtering IPs, ports and protocols to block brute attacks; a WAF works at the application layer (L7), analysing HTTP / HTTPS content to block SQL injection, XSS and other business-logic attacks; DDoS protection mitigates large traffic floods upstream at the bandwidth layer. They cover different layers and don't replace each other.
For businesses with public web apps, we recommend both: the network layer blocks brute attacks, the application layer blocks business-logic attacks, and together they form a complete defence. For an internal office network only, a Cloud Firewall is enough; for a small website, a WAF is the minimum starting point.
It can block some Layer 7 (application-layer) DDoS, such as HTTP floods against login forms or API endpoints. But large network-layer DDoS saturates upstream bandwidth before reaching the WAF, so it needs dedicated DDoS protection.
Small attacks run 1 to 10 Gbps, medium 10 to 100 Gbps, large over 100 Gbps. SMEs mostly face small-to-medium attacks; finance, media and government bodies may face large ones. UD offers four tiers: 1 Gbps, 5 Gbps, 10 Gbps and >10 Gbps custom.
DV verifies only domain ownership, the fastest and cheapest, suitable for non-transactional sites; OV also verifies organisation identity, suitable for SMEs; EV is the strictest level, showing the full company name in the browser and offering the highest trust, suitable for e-commerce, financial institutions and listed companies.
UD Security is a managed security service provider (MSSP) partner for Hong Kong businesses, running a four-stage security lifecycle: identify (pen testing, SRAA, vulnerability scanning, phishing tests), protect (firewall, DDoS, SSL), monitor (24/7 local Hong Kong engineers) and plan (quarterly and annual risk reviews). You get full coverage without the long-term capital cost of building your own security operations centre.
A 99.99% uptime guarantee covering the cloud firewall, DDoS protection and managed services. Support response times are tiered by incident severity, with detailed terms set out in each solution contract.
Round-the-clock email and phone support from UD's local Hong Kong team, answered on public holidays and overnight, covering new-service onboarding, first response to urgent incidents, protection tuning during an attack and compliance advice.
No. UD's 100% local Hong Kong team is directly hired, with no outsourced call centre. All monitoring data, reports and sensitive information stay within Hong Kong and are not moved offshore, which matters especially to government departments, financial institutions and listed companies with data-sovereignty requirements.
Go to the relevant solution page and submit the enquiry form at the foot, noting your target scope, size, compliance target and expected timing. A UD engineer will reply shortly to arrange a scoping meeting, after which we provide a formal quote. SSL certificates are a self-serve product, applied for directly on the SSL page.
It depends on the solution: pen testing, SRAA and phishing tests are project-based, billed per round; cloud firewall, DDoS protection and vulnerability scanning are monthly / annual subscriptions; SSL is annual. Long-term clients get bundle discounts.
Submit an enquiry noting your current provider and scope, and a UD engineer will assess the migration effort, plan the timeline and avoid any service gap. SSL switching, firewall rule import and vulnerability-scan history import all have a standard onboarding workflow.
DDoS protection comes with a 30-day refund guarantee: if you're not satisfied within 30 days, you can request a full refund. Other solutions follow their contract terms, confirmed when you enquire.
Each solution page has a dedicated enquiry form for direct quote requests; for queries not listed here, media partnerships or business enquiries, submit a general enquiry. All enquiries are followed up personally by UD's local Hong Kong team — not outsourced.