The Taipei Police Department yesterday unveiled its High Technology Crime Investigation Unit to tackle criminal activities involving the use of advanced technology.
“In July this year, the Taipei Police Department cracked the First Bank automated teller machine theft, which had drawn international attention. The fraud ring committed crimes throughout the world and ended up being arrested in Taipei,” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said at the unit’s inauguration ceremony.
Statistics compiled by the police department showed that violent crimes have decreased over the years, while technological crimes have been on the rise, which is why Taipei Police Department Commissioner Chiu Feng-kuang (邱豐光) proposed creating the new unit as part of the Criminal Investigation Division, Ko said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The unit’s missions include equipping police officers with the skills to solve technological crimes, recruiting police officers with relavant work experience or academic background, as well as collaborating with academia to develop new technologies targeting cybercrime to ensure the police’s technological capacity is up to date with that of criminals, he said.
In addition to digital forensic tools and the global positioning system already in use when investigating technological crimes, the department would also tap big data to create a database recording criminal activities across the nation to forecast possible crimes, thereby outmaneuvering the criminals, the mayor said.
The unit, formerly known as the division’s “information office,” is not the first of its kind to be approved by the central government, but it has the largest staff and the most up-to-date forensic and investigative tools in the nation, the department said.
With the help of digital forensics, the division and the Taichung Investigation Bureau in September solved a nationwide malfunction of the YouBike public bicycle rental system after identifying the alleged suspect, it said.
A computer programmer surnamed Liao (廖), who works for a technology firm that designed the YouBike system, allegedly implanted malware that paralyzed rental stations in six cities and counties, reportedly as retaliation against his superior, who had scolded him shortly before the incident occurred.
Liao removed the malware after the alleged crime, but prosecutors and police said they located copies of it on his hard disk after sifting through 200,000 files.
Liao last week denied that he was involved in the case and was released on bail of NT$100,000.
He is to be questioned again by the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office.
Additional reporting by CNA
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a
EVA Airways on Saturday said that it had suspended a pilot and opened an investigation after he allegedly lost his temper and punched the first officer several times as their plane was taxiing before takeoff at Los Angeles International Airport. According to a report published on Thursday by The Reporter, the incident occurred after the flight’s Malaysian first officer tried to warn the Taiwanese pilot, surnamed Wen (文), that he was taxiing faster than the speed limit of 30 knots (55.6kph). After alerting the pilot several times without response, the first officer manually applied the brakes in accordance with standard operating
The New Taipei City Social Welfare Department on Thursday celebrated Paralympic competitor Chen Tzu-wei (張孜維), who received last year’s national Golden Eagle award for exemplary achievement by Taiwanese with disabilities. Chen, who suffers from childhood-onset muscular dystrophy, did not attend the first award ceremony held by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in November due to illness. Chen was formally presented with the award at the department, where he gave thanks to government workers for supporting his education and livelihood, the department said in a statement. Chen was raised by the Ai-hsin Home for Persons with Disabilities in the city’s Bali District (八里)
RSS