Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog has condemned the owner of an education platform for paying a ransom to hackers who stole individuals’ personal data across 9,000 institutions worldwide, arguing that the money should have been spent on strengthening cybersecurity. Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data Ada Chung Lai-ling on Friday also questioned whether the hackers had truly returned the data stolen from Canvas and urged affected users to remain alert to suspicious calls or messages claiming to be.