A hacking contest aimed at boosting artificial intelligence (AI) security started taking applications yesterday, Minister of Science and Technology Chen Liang-gee (陳良基) said.
The winning team will win NT$20 million (US$675,311), Chen told a news conference in Taipei, which he attended dressed as a “hacker” in black clothes and dark sunglasses.
The nation must boost its information security, especially at a time when it is committed to developing AI technology, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Science and Technology
The Ministry of Science and Technology has invited start-ups established after April 24, 2013, to join the contest in a bid to cultivate information security professionals and create applicable products, Chen said.
Contestants are to make proposals to elevate the security of Internet of Things applications and AI programs, Chen said, adding that the ministry would invite academics and industrial experts to evaluate the proposals in three stages.
Each team needs to have between two and 10 members, half of whom must be Taiwanese, the ministry said, adding that the application period would end on June 30.
There would also be a preliminary “escape room” game, in which contestants would play hackers, prosecutors or information security personnel to break given blockchains, Association of Hackers in Taiwan spokesperson Alan Lee (李倫銓) said.
The association was invited by the ministry to help design the game.
The game would take place on July 28 and July 29 along with this year’s Hacks in Taiwan Conference at Taipei’s Nangang Exhibition Hall, Lee said.
The ministry also plans to invite contestants to another game in October to test the safety software of self-driving cars at Tainan’s Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, it said.
Taiwanese hackers can be said to be among the world’s top three nations, as they last year claimed second place at the DEF CON hacking contest in the US, Lee said.
US hackers won first place and Chinese hackers came third in that contest, Lee said, but added that Chinese hackers are no less competitive in real life.
Regarding the cultivation of information security professionals, Lee said that a generational gap and a lack of systematic promotion are the most pressing issues, calling on the ministry to create more opportunities for young talents.
Lee also called on Taiwanese people and businesses to face their information security problems.
Technology giants, such as Intel Corp, have become more open to revealing their security problems and soliciting solutions after they encountered many cyberattacks, while Taiwanese businesses tend to conceal their problems, instead of trying to upgrade their technological defenses, he said.
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