The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) is to demand today that the nation’s state-run banks review the information security systems of their overseas branches in the wake of a heist that targeted First Commercial Bank’s (第一銀行) automated teller machines.
State-run banks will also have to inspect the operations of their overseas branches to ensure that they comply with Taiwanese regulations and their host nations, the Chinese-language Apple Daily newspaper quoted FSC Vice Chairman Kuei Hsien-nung (桂先農) as saying on Saturday.
The newspaper said that the Ministry of Finance plans to convene a meeting with the representatives of state-run lenders before the end of this month.
The ministry will also require banks to report on the progress of their information security upgrades, the newspaper said.
The commission and the ministry’s moves came after the Investigation Bureau discovered that two First Commercial Bank branches in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and Phnom Penh, Cambodia, might have been hacked, in addition to its London branch.
The Southeast Asian branches reported abnormal Internet connections with the London branch, the newspaper said, citing sources familiar with the investigation.
The bureau said it suspects that an international fraud ring might have infiltrated the bank’s systems to set up a connection between London and Taiwan via the two Southeast Asian branches.
A team of information security experts from the bureau are analyzing two hard drives taken from the two Southeastern Asian branches, the bureau said.
First Commercial Bank confirmed the report, but said it found no losses at the two Southeastern Asian branches, as the bank does not have ATMs there.
The bank said it will improve the security firewalls at the two branches.
PATENTS: MediaTek Inc said it would not comment on ongoing legal cases, but does not expect the legal action by Huawei to affect its business operations Smartphone integrated chips designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Friday said that a lawsuit filed by Chinese smartphone brand Huawei Technologies Co (華為) over alleged patent infringements would have little impact on its operations. In an announcement posted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, MediaTek said that it would not comment on an ongoing legal case. However, the company said that Huawei’s legal action would have little impact on its operations. MediaTek’s statement came after China-based PRIP Research said on Thursday that Huawei filed a lawsuit with a Chinese district court claiming that MediaTek infringed on its patents. The infringement mentioned in the lawsuit likely involved
Taipei is today suspending work, classes and its US$2.4 trillion stock market as Typhoon Gaemi approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Authorities had yesterday issued a warning that the storm could affect people on land and canceled some ship crossings and domestic flights. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) expects its local chipmaking fabs to maintain normal production, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp said it has activated routine typhoon alert
GROWTH: TSMC increased its projected revenue growth for this year to more than 25 percent, citing stronger-than-expected demand for AI devices and smartphones The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year from 3.29 percent to 3.85 percent, as exports and private investment recovered faster than it predicted three months ago. The Taipei-based think tank also expects that Taiwan would see a 8.19 percent increase in exports this year, better than the 7.55 percent it projected in April, as US technology giants spent more money on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and development. “There will be more AI servers going forward, but it remains to be seen if the momentum would extend to personal computers, smartphones and
Catastrophic computer outages caused by a software update from one company have once again exposed the dangers of global technological dependence on a handful of players, experts said on Friday. A flawed update sent out by the little-known security firm CrowdStrike Holdings Inc brought airlines, TV stations and myriad other aspects of daily life to a standstill. The outages affected companies or individuals that use CrowdStrike on the Microsoft Inc’s Windows platform. When they applied the update, the incompatible software crashed computers into a frozen state known as the “blue screen of death.” “Today CrowdStrike has become a household name, but not in