The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday urged military personnel to stay alert, warning of potential attacks from computer hackers. The ministry asked personnel who work with confidential information to be especially on their guard.
"Vigilance starts at the individual level," said Major General Chai Hui-chen (
Chai made her remarks after being asked to comment on a recent intelligence leak at the National Defense University.
A colonel illegally took home classified information concerning the Hankwang military exercise because he wanted to continue his work after office hours.
The officer had downloaded software from Chinese Web sites onto his home computer that planted a back-door access program. Hackers then stole the classified information from his computer without the officer noticing.
The officer did not realize that his computer had been hacked until law enforcement officers discovered the hackers' attack, which originated in China, and reported it to the ministry.
The ministry yesterday said the case was under investigation.
At least six generals could face punishment from the ministry if the case is designated as an "espionage case," Chai said.
Asked why the university's anti-espionage officer had let anyone take home classified information, Chai replied: "We will certainly impose stricter security measures in the future to prevent similar cases from occurring."
Taipei on Thursday held urban resilience air raid drills, with residents in one of the exercises’ three “key verification zones” reporting little to no difference compared with previous years, despite government pledges of stricter enforcement. Formerly known as the Wanan exercise, the air raid drills, which concluded yesterday, are now part of the “Urban Resilience Exercise,” which also incorporates the Minan disaster prevention and rescue exercise. In Taipei, the designated key verification zones — where the government said more stringent measures would be enforced — were Songshan (松山), Zhongshan (中山) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts. Air raid sirens sounded at 1:30pm, signaling the
The number of people who reported a same-sex spouse on their income tax increased 1.5-fold from 2020 to 2023, while the overall proportion of taxpayers reporting a spouse decreased by 4.4 percent from 2014 to 2023, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday. The number of people reporting a spouse on their income tax trended upward from 2014 to 2019, the Department of Statistics said. However, the number decreased in 2020 and 2021, likely due to a drop in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic and the income of some households falling below the taxable threshold, it said. The number of spousal tax filings rebounded
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
Labor rights groups yesterday called on the Ministry of Labor to protect migrant workers in Taiwan’s fishing industry, days after CNN reported alleged far-ranging abuses in the sector, including deaths and forced work. The ministry must enforce domestic labor protection laws on Taiwan-owned deep-sea fishing vessels, the Coalition for Human Rights for Migrant Fishers told a news conference outside the ministry in Taipei after presenting a petition to officials. CNN on Sunday reported that Taiwanese seafood giant FCF Co, the owners of the US-based Bumble Bee Foods, committed human rights abuses against migrant fishers, citing Indonesian migrant fishers. The alleged abuses included denying
RSS