Meeting Hong Kong's Cap. 653 Compliance for Critical Infrastructure with Eventus and Devo

Hong Kong's cybersecurity landscape is undergoing a major shift with the introduction of the Protection of Critical Infrastructures (Computer Systems) Ordinance (Cap. 653). Under this regulation, Critical Infrastructure Operators (CIOs) must meet strict statutory obligations regarding organizational governance, preventive security measures, and prompt incident response.

At Eventus, we partner with Devo to deliver a unified SIEM and security data platform that helps organizations maintain continuous visibility, streamline investigations, and achieve full compliance with Cap. 653.

Understanding Cap. 653 Obligations

The Cap. 653 ordinance targets critical computer systems (CCSs) within sectors vital to Hong Kong's economy and society—such as energy, transport, finance, healthcare, and telecommunications. CIOs have three major categories of obligations:

1. Organizational Obligations: Establishing a dedicated security unit and designated contact persons.
2. Preventive Obligations: Implementing security management policies, performing regular security audits, conducting risk assessments, and executing system security drills.
3. Incident Reporting & Response: Promptly reporting serious computer system security incidents (such as system failures or data breaches) within strict timeframes—often as short as 2 hours after detection.

How Eventus SIEM+ and Devo Deliver Compliance

Meeting these statutory requirements without adding operational overhead requires a platform built for massive scale, advanced threat correlation, and automated response.

1. Continuous Visibility and Centralized Logging

Cap. 653 requires operators to maintain comprehensive log records and monitor systems to identify anomalies. Traditional logging tools often drop packets under high volumes or slow down when querying old data.

• Devo's Cloud-Native Platform: Ingests petabytes of security telemetry across your entire infrastructure—on-premise, cloud, and edge. It provides a secure, immutable log repository.
• Continuous Monitoring: Eventus SIEM+ processes these logs without delay, establishing behavioral baselines and alerting on anomalous patterns.
• Sub-Second Search: Analysts can query months of historical security logs in milliseconds, ensuring that investigative efforts are never delayed by slow databases.

2. Rapid Response and SOAR Integration

When an incident is detected, the clock starts ticking for Cap. 653's 2-hour reporting window. Traditional manual triage is too slow.

• Automated Correlation: Eventus SIEM+ uses advanced rules to correlate alerts across network devices, endpoints, and identity providers, isolating true threats from false alarms.
• Instant Containment (SOAR): Predefined playbooks automatically isolate compromised hosts, revoke compromised credentials, or block malicious IPs.
• Pre-Packaged Evidence: The platform automatically compiles the security event timeline, providing the documentation needed to report incidents to HK authorities well within the reporting window.

3. Simplified Security Audits

Under Cap. 653, regular independent audits are mandatory. Preparing for these audits can take weeks of manual log collection.

• Compliance Dashboards: Eventus SIEM+ features pre-built dashboards designed to map directly to Cap. 653 controls.
• Long-Term Retention: Devo's efficient storage architecture lets you retain hot, searchable log data for years, keeping you audit-ready at a lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

The Eventus Advantage: Expert Remediation Guidance

Eventus doesn't just alert you to threats. Our dedicated security team works alongside yours, providing step-by-step remediation advice to help you fix vulnerabilities and strengthen your security posture over time.

Contact Eventus today to learn how we can help secure your critical infrastructure and simplify your Cap. 653 compliance journey.