Starting from 1 March 2022, according to the Telecommunications (Registration of Subscriber Identity Cards) Regulations, Hong Kong citizens must complete real-name registration with a telecommunications service provider before using a new Subscriber Identity Module [SIM Card]. The existing SIM card users must complete real-name registration on or before 23 February 2023. Otherwise, unregistered SIM cards will be deactivated. The regulation kicks off a new trend of government regulation of conduct on the Internet. This has caused citizens to worry about when the government will start regulating behavior and real-name registration on the Internet. The information security industry has also begun to discuss the benefits and impact of real-name registration on information security.

In fact, Internet real-name registration is not a new thing. The Article 24 of the Cybersecurity Law, which was implemented in China on 1 June 2017, stipulates that network operators shall require users to provide real identity information that if users do not provide real identity information, network operators shall not provide them with relevant services. This legal provision is widely regarded by the world as a sign of China's full implementation of the online real-name system. Now that some countries have begun to implement Internet real-name registration, it is necessary to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of Internet real-name registration. First of all, real-name registration allows the state to identify the user's behavior within a certain period of time by viewing the IP address of the user's real-name registration. Hacking and stealing personal information such actions will be easily identified by the government or police, which greatly increases the risk of hackers doing harm to individuals or businesses. It is believed that this will reduce the number of IT security breach incidents.

However, opportunity comes with risk. There are reports in recent days that about one billion data on behavior and real-name registrations on the Internet have been stolen from the country's police database by hackers. This incident also reflects the risks brought by Internet real-name registration. When users provide all personal information to the government to prevent IT security breaches, organizations that retain users' personal data must add technical controls to prevent security breaches.

Back to the discussion on real-name registration on the Internet in Hong Kong, authorities need to have the ability to protect this personal data from hacking and data leakage. Internet real-name registration seems to require a long discussion in the society to make a decision, and privacy and information security should also be strictly controlled.

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