The National Security Bureau (NSB) believes that the Chinese military has shifted the emphasis of cyberattacks on Taiwan from government institutions to civilian think tanks, telecommunications service providers, Internet node facilities and traffic signal control systems, according to an NSB report.
The report on the country’s measures to stem attacks by China’s hackers was prepared for lawmakers’ reference ahead of a scheduled legislative hearing on the issue tomorrow that will be attended by NSB, Ministry of National Defense and Criminal Investigation Bureau officials.
Amid the public’s growing reliance on the convenience of online networks, Taiwan’s heavy dependence on technology means threats to Internet security are increasing, the bureau said.
Private think tanks, information technology businesses or outsourced factories and businesses, less well-defended network nodes, factory-grade microcomputer controllers, cloud storage and traffic signal switches may be targeted instead of governmental facilities and embassies, the bureau said in the report.
The bureau also cautioned that social media may be used to get close to personnel in sensitive or key positions to gain access to their computers to further penetrate the nation’s Internet defenses.
The hackers’ goal is to acquire as much control as possible over internal Internet systems before trying to steal or forge information, or paralyze Internet communications, the bureau said in the report.
According to the bureau, since 2002, China has extended its cyberarmy and now there are more than 100,000 people working for it, with Beijing budgeting more than NT$80 million (US$2.71 million) a year for the hackers.
As an agency of national defense, the bureau is a long-term and dedicated target of Chinese hackers and was hit 3.34 million times last year, the bureau said.
However, it said the actions were reconnaissance rather than actual attacks.
About 70,000 malignant attacks — averaging 209 a day — were all successfully averted, the bureau added.
The bureau takes cyberdefense seriously and has allocated funding over the past three years to purchase specialized equipment, such as defensive software systems, as well as prioritizing the limitation and scanning of outgoing documents, the bureau said.
In a special note, the bureau said telecommunication providers should prioritize national defense over financial gains, adding that the providers should try to strengthen and implement Internet security protocols in accordance with government policies.
Meanwhile, the Executive Yuan’s Information Security Office said in a report that among all government units, only the Council of Agriculture and the Executive Yuan itself have met information security standards.
Saying the situation was unsatisfactory, the Executive Yuan said that branches of the government should seek to have every office, branch or unit under their jurisdiction pass the Information Security Management System testing standards to ensure online security.
Additional reporting by CNA
EFFICIENCY: The rules for Philippine arrivals were revised after 17.6% of arrivals with symptoms tested positive, compared with 0.7% of those with no symptoms Starting today, Chinese spouses who hold a reunion permit can apply to enter Taiwan and travelers without symptoms from the Philippines do not need to be tested for COVID-19 upon arrival, but are to be tested after a 14-day quarantine, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that from today, Chinese who are married to a Taiwanese citizen and hold a reunion permit can apply to the National Immigration Agency for entry into Taiwan. Chinese who are married to a foreign national and hold an accompanied reunion permit
PENGHU INSPECTION: Taiwan cannot let its enemies strut around in its airspace, Tsai said, one day after a Chinese spokesman denied a median line exists in the Taiwan Strait Following China’s assertion on Monday that there is no “median line” in the Taiwan Strait, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday pledged to defend the nation’s airspace during a visit to an air force base in Penghu, saying that Taiwan cannot allow others to flex their military muscle in its territorial airspace. Tsai praised the “heroic performance” of the pilots of the Indigenous Defense Fighters who have been intercepting Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force planes in recent days. “I have a lot of confidence in you. As soldiers of the Republic of China [ROC], how could we let enemies strut
CONSOLIDATION? Taiwan Thinktank deputy executive-general Doong Sy-chi said Beijing’s intimidation tactics are further alienating those who identify as Chinese Only 2 percent of respondents to a poll on constitutional amendments and national identity identified as Chinese, while 62.6 percent identified as Taiwanese, the Taiwan Thinktank said yesterday. Legislators have proposed amendments to the Additional Articles of the Constitution (憲法增修條文), which would change the definition of the nation’s territory, remove the Taiwan Provincial Government as an entity, prioritize the use of “Taiwan” for national groups at international events, and remove restrictions on defining the national emblem, national flag and national anthem. The poll showed that 80.5 percent of respondents agreed that the nation should participate as “Taiwan” at events organized by world
BALANCED DEVELOPMENT: TSMC chairman Mark Liu said the firm is committed to local investment: a third in the north, a third in the center, a third in the south Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that, based on its strategy of balancing capacity, it plans to make northern Taiwan its manufacturing hub for advanced technologies that go beyond 2 nanometers. “As the company is committed to investing in Taiwan, we try to deploy one-third [of our total production capacity] in the north and have one-third each in the center and south” of the nation, TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) told reporters on the sidelines of Semicon Taiwan’s Master Forum in Taipei. TSMC last year reached its goal of deploying capacity equally across those parts
RSS