National Taiwan University (NTU) has clarified that a report that its online education platform, CEIBA, had been hacked was a false alarm, as it was simply an error that occurred when a Department of Information Engineering student was conducting research.
The university on Wednesday reported that its system was hacked and that all students’ scores had been changed to 87.
The suspicion was that the numerals were specifically chosen to mock the university, as the number “87” means “idiot” in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) Internet lingo.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
The university’s Department of Education Affairs Information Division director Kevin Chang (張良鵬) said on Friday that the department received notice on Wednesday that an engineering student had accidentally changed the scores.
“The student, who was testing theories about information security loopholes, made the changes to what they thought was one entry,” Chang said. “However, the single change affected the entire system.”
Fortunately for the university, the online education platform is an isolated platform for grading purposes and is not connected to the department database, he said.
The department recovered the original grades by restoring a previous backup of the system, he added.
Department director Ting Shih-tung (丁詩同) said the university’s Computer and Information Networking Center will be performing routine check-ups on university Web sites every three months.
The university’s Student Association head Tu Chun-ching (涂峻清) said that the school should be more cautious in terms of information security and that the university should reduce its reliance on information systems, citing an incident at National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) as an example
NSYSU associate professor Chen Chih-chieh (陳至潔) on Facebook on Thursday said that university professors specializing in political science or cross-strait studies had their e-mails monitored — some for up to three years — by someone posing as a school official.
Commenting on the NTU incident, National Chiao Tung University Department of Computer Science professor Lin Ying-dar (林盈達) said that campus Internet systems are more open than networks used in the private sector.
While the student should not have been able to do what they did, NTU should ensure that its servers are compliant with the International Organization for Standardization Information Security Management System 27001, Lin said.
NTU should have annual checkups and detect weak points in its information security defenses, Lin said, adding that NTU should also consider setting aside a few days when lecturers and students would be “white hat” hackers, attacking the system to find weaknesses.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese