The Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office on Monday charged a computer engineer with obstruction of computer use over the crash of the YouBike system last year, alleging he installed malware into the system.
The engineer, surnamed Liao (廖), maintains his innocence and is awaiting trial.
The system crash on Aug. 31 last year caused YouBike docking stations to go offline in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung and Changhua — affecting 22,000 bicycles — and resulted in losses of more than NT$20 million (US$662,910), the indictment said.
Photo: Yang Cheng-chun, Taipei Times
The service resumed on Sept. 2 after emergency repairs were carried out.
A multi-agency investigation led by Taichung district prosecutor Huang Yuan-heng (黃元亨) concluded that Liao, a 30-year-old employee of YouBike contractor Microprogram Co, was responsible for sabotaging the system, following a spat with his supervisor at work during which he made threats.
Liao was accused of coding a malware program identified as list_card_hash_3 that he inserted into YouBike Co servers during a software update in Chuanghua for the programs governing the mechanisms that affix bicycles to their docking stations, the indictment said.
The malware activated at 12:55am and disrupted services across the nation, it said.
After reviewing the incident, investigators first ruled out pre-existing software flaws as the cause of the crash, then discovered the malware, and excluded the possibility that former employees could have gained access to the system, the indictment said.
As a result, the circle of suspects was narrowed to three software engineers, but two were later ruled out because one lacked the knowledge or skills to execute the attack, and the other senior-ranking engineer had worked hard to contain the damage during the crisis, it said.
Liao allegedly created list_card_hash_3 on a previous occasion out of a desire to slack off at work, the indictment said.
Liao showed little initiative in dealing with the crash and his browser history indicated he tried to find ways to remove software that had been inserted in a system without leaving a trace, it added.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
RSS