Information-technology experts say the SAR government should use fingerprint-identification technology to ensure broader information security, a field in which they claim Hong Kong is lagging the mainland by about five years.

The advice came in the wake of a spate of sensitive information leaks in both the public and the private sectors. Eric See, managing director of Founder Globaltech Ltd (an affiliate of Peking University), noted that many government department staff members and public-hospital doctors take home sensitive information by downloading it from office computers to mobile hard drives.

To prevent staff, especially unauthorized staff, from doing so, he suggested that organizations install an online fingerprint-identification system to monitor access to sensitive information via a small fingerprint reader.

For example, the technology can be used to prevent the downloading of information to mobile devices, so classified information won't be taken outside offices.

Depending on the grades of sensitive information, different levels of authorization can be set up according to the ranks of the staff.

Fingerprint authentication as a form of biometric identification is more secure than smart cards and passwords, because a person's fingerprints are unique, he explains, while passwords are prone to theft, loss and poor memory.

Most importantly, authorized persons cannot pass their fingerprints to other people, as they must access the sensitive information personally.

But See noted that no more than 30 percent of Hong Kong companies are using this. As far as he knows, the Immigration Department is the only government department that controls access to top secret files via fingerprint authentication. The Immigration Department's e-channel system also comes close as identity card holders go through immigration checks with the fingerprint records stored in their electronic identity cards, while truck drivers going through the Huanggang cross-boundary checkpoint by using the fingerprint device.

In the private sector, private hospitals use this device to control access to patients' medical records. But in commercial banks, supervisors still use smart cards to obtain authorizations.

Lin Jinlong, an associate professor of the Peking University's School of Software & Microelectronics, reveals that most public security and social security departments in the mainland are already using fingerprint authentication to tighten information security.

"Hong Kong is five years behind the mainland," See said.

A spokeswoman with the Office of Government Chief Information Officer told China Daily that in the wake of recent information leaks, the government has issued guidelines and introduced new requirements in relation to the storage of personal or classified data on portable electronic-storage devices.

For example, officers are required to seek authorization from supervisors to store data on portable devices. They are also required to encrypt personal or classified data before storage. But at this stage, fingerprint technology is not used extensively.

(HK Edition 09/02/2008 page1)