China has launched new types of cyberattacks on Taiwan in recent years, with many targeting the highest levels of government, reports presented at an information security meeting earlier this week found.
“It is clear that Taiwan has been used as a ‘training ground’ by a Chinese cyberarmy to hone their skills,” Vice Premier Simon Chang (張善政) said at an Executive Yuan meeting in Taipei on Thursday.
“Many of the attacks are new types of cyberwarfare,” he said.
Chang said that Beijing has targeted the Presidential Office, Executive Yuan, Ministry of Economic Affairs and the National Development Council.
China accounts for a very high proportion of such attacks, he said.
“Taiwan must develop its information security defense program,” he said. “We have to do it on our own and not rely on other nations, because a lot of these are new types of attacks.”
Chang said it is clear that Chinese cyberwarfare was conducted before elections and political events.
From 2009 to last year, large concentrations of cyberattacks were uncovered during negotiations over the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, disputes on the cross-strait service trade agreement and the Sunflower movement’s occupation of the Legislative Yuan’s main chamber, and before last year’s nine-in-one elections.
Chang said that cyberattacks have been simulated during the armed forces’ annual exercises and national security drills.
“There is a fine line between information security and national security, so, for the first time, the government held the drills together last year,” Chang said, adding that cyberattacks by China on utility networks such as electricity grids, telecommunications systems, energy supply lines and other public infrastructure were simulated.
Information and Communication Security Technology Center head Hsiao Hsiu-chin (蕭秀琴) said that the US and some European nations have sought collaboration with Taiwan on cybersecurity programs, due to the nation’s accumulated experience in dealing with Chinese cyberwarfare.
TRAFFIC SAFETY RULES: A positive result in a drug test would result in a two-year license suspension for the driver and vehicle, and a fine of up to NT$180,000 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to authorize police to conduct roadside saliva tests by the end of the year to deter people from driving while under the influence of narcotics, it said yesterday. The ministry last month unveiled a draft of amended regulations governing traffic safety rules and penalties, which included provisions empowering police to conduct mandatory saliva tests on drivers. While currently rules authorize police to use oral fluid testing kits for signs of drug use, they do not establish penalties for noncompliance or operating procedures for officers to follow, the ministry said. The proposed changes to the regulations require
The Executive Yuan yesterday announced that registration for a one-time universal NT$10,000 cash handout to help people in Taiwan survive US tariffs and inflation would start on Nov. 5, with payouts available as early as Nov. 12. Who is eligible for the handout? Registered Taiwanese nationals are eligible, including those born in Taiwan before April 30 next year with a birth certificate. Non-registered nationals with residence permits, foreign permanent residents and foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens with residence permits also qualify for the handouts. For people who meet the eligibility requirements, but passed away between yesterday and April 30 next year, surviving family members
China Airlines Ltd (CAL) yesterday morning joined SkyTeam’s Aviation Challenge for the fourth time, operating a demonstration flight for “net zero carbon emissions” from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Bangkok. The flight used sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at a ratio of up to 40 percent, the highest proportion CAL has achieved to date, the nation’s largest carrier said. Since April, SAF has become available to Taiwanese international carriers at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), Kaohsiung International Airport and Taoyuan airport. In previous challenges, CAL operated “net zero carbon emission flights” to Singapore and Japan. At a ceremony at Taoyuan airport, China Airlines chief sustainability
‘ONE CHINA’: A statement that Berlin decides its own China policy did not seem to sit well with Beijing, which offered only one meeting with the German official German Minister for Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul’s trip to China has been canceled, a spokesperson for his ministry said yesterday, amid rising tensions between the two nations, including over Taiwan. Wadephul had planned to address Chinese curbs on rare earths during his visit, but his comments about Berlin deciding on the “design” of its “one China” policy ahead of the trip appear to have rankled China. Asked about Wadephul’s comments, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun (郭嘉昆) said the “one China principle” has “no room for any self-definition.” In the interview published on Thursday, Wadephul said he would urge China to
RSS