Gov’t loses tapes containing personal data of 76,000 individuals

The risk of leakage is "extremely low," the Official Receiver's Office said. 

The Official Receiver’s Office (ORO) has issued an apology after it lost seven magnetic backup tapes containing the personal data of 76,000 individuals and the delay in reporting.

Last 22 January 2025, the ORO received a report that the tapes were lost in transit from the Immigration Tower to Queensway Government Offices.

The tapes were stored in a locked protective case and encrypted with AES-256, a highly secure encryption algorithm. Having consulted the Digital Policy Office, the ORO considers the risk of personal data leakage extremely low.

Based on the current investigation, ORO said there is no evidence that the data contained on the tapes has been read or compromised.

The incident has been reported to the Police Force, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, the Security Bureau, and the Digital Policy Office.

The ORO said it has refined procedures with immediate effect and reviewed all transit procedures and data protection practices.