The Ministry of National Defense (MND) is to recruit cybersecurity experts from the private sector by offering special bonuses to augment the nation’s cyberwarfare capabilities, the ministry’s budget plan for the fiscal year 2018 says.
Service members with an “expert” rating in IT proficiency will receive a monthly cyberwarfare duty bonus of NT$50,000, according to the plan.
Their post-bonus salaries could be as high as NT$100,000, equivalent to that of a major general or a rear admiral, the plan said.
The cyberwarfare bonus is different from the ordinary IT duty bonus, a ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
The ordinary IT duty bonus was approved by the Executive Yuan on June 27 and was implemented on July 1, the official said.
The cyberwarfare bonus would be available for personnel at the General Staff or Information and Electronic Warfare Command, which was established in June, the official said.
The official did not say how many people would receive the cyberwarfare bonus.
IT-related bonuses are divided into ordinary IT duty bonuses and cyberwarfare duty bonuses, according to the ministry’s budget proposal.
The ordinary bonuses are divided into two categories: for officers ranking from major to colonel and for officers ranking from second lieutenant to captain. The monthly bonus for the former group is NT$3,500 per month and NT$2,700 per month for the latter group.
The cyberwarfare bonuses are divided into five categories according to proficiency ratings measured by internationally recognized certificates and experience, the plan said.
The monthly cyberwarfare bonus would be NT$30,000 for those rated “Outstanding Class I,” NT$15,000 for “Outstanding Class II,” NT$10,000 for “Specialist Class I” and NT$5,000 for “Specialist Class II.”
The public portion of the command’s budget said the bonuses would facilitate the development, security and efficiency of systems, helping boost morale and building a base of technical competence.
The cyberwarfare bonus was underscored as important for recruiting and retaining qualified professionals in military service and for encouraging existing personnel to seek training.
Cyberwarfare personnel must pass a strict qualification course, training and certification before being eligible for the cyberwarfare bonus, the command said.
Those restrictions ensure the quality and competence of the command’s personnel, the command added.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai