Big 4 Accounting Firms Advise Using 'Disposable Phones' During Hong Kong Business Trips Due to Hacking Concerns

2 of the Big 4: KPMG and Deloitte

Global Big Four accounting firms Deloitte and KPMG are reportedly advising employees traveling to Hong Kong to use "burner phones" due to concerns over hacking by Chinese authorities.

According to the UK daily Financial Times (FT) on the 27th (local time), Deloitte and KPMG have recently been recommending the use of burner phones when traveling to China and Hong Kong. Previously, this policy applied only to trips to China, but it has recently been extended to Hong Kong.

Another professional consulting firm, McKinsey, also recommends using separate phones for trips to China and Hong Kong. A source told FT, "Because of these inconveniences, senior executives tend to avoid traveling to Hong Kong."

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Deloitte and KPMG belong to the global Big Four accounting firms. Based in the UK, they handle accounting and consulting for global corporations, and among the information their employees handle are sensitive client data. The accounting firms are reportedly concerned about the possibility of such data leaking to Chinese authorities.

Earlier, China enacted the Hong Kong National Security Law in 2020, breaking the "One Country, Two Systems" principle agreed upon during the handover of Hong Kong from the UK.

The "One Country, Two Systems" principle was the basis for Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy, but since the introduction of the Hong Kong National Security Law, Hong Kong has been subject to strict security measures similar to those in mainland China.

Hong Kong [Image source=Yonhap News]

Additionally, Chinese authorities plan to extend internet data security laws applied in the mainland to Hong Kong and Macau. If mainland China's data laws are extended to Hong Kong, managing customer data for global companies established in Hong Kong could become even more difficult.

The mainland China's Data Security Law and Personal Information Protection Law, revised in 2021, block the export of data collected or produced within China to foreign countries, while making it easier for authorities to manage and control data and personal information.

However, not all Big Four accounting firms maintain a burner phone policy. According to FT, PwC, a member of the Big Four, responded that it currently does not have a burner phone policy, and an Ernst & Young (EY) executive said, "I am not aware of any restrictions on travel to Hong Kong."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.