The nation’s securities and futures companies must reveal cybersecurity incidents, consequent losses and countermeasures in annual reports from next year, given the rising frequency of cyberattacks in the past few years, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said on Tuesday.
Currently, securities and futures companies only need to report such incidents to the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) and the commission within 30 minutes after a hacking attack is detected.
To enhance information disclosure to investors, the commission said that companies need to reveal such incidents in annual reports as well.
Photo: Kelson Wang, Taipei Times
However, only incidents that cause serious losses would need to be disclosed, Securities and Futures Bureau Deputy Director-General Tsai Li-ling (蔡麗玲) said.
In addition to compensating investors affected by cyberattacks, securities firms must reveal how their financial results and operations were disrupted by the attacks, and specify what measures would be taken to lower such risks, Tsai said.
The commission did not say how many securities firms would need to disclose such information next year.
A TWSE official yesterday said by telephone that many securities firms had experienced more than one cybersecurity threat this year, “but not every threat caused great damage.”
Among 49 local securities companies that offer online trading, three firms, including Yuanta Securities Co (元大證券) and President Securities Corp (統一證券), last month were targeted by credential stuffing attacks in which clients’ trading accounts were used to buy Hong Kong stocks, even though the clients did not place such orders.
The commission has fined some securities companies for failing to install firewalls or improve cybersecurity loopholes, and for allowing external technology suppliers to manage servers remotely.
In related news, the commission would implement 15 new policies next year, including two that are intended to help consumers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The commission has asked banks to extend the grace period of loan payments by up to six months for those struggling to repay debt, and allow consumers to take out loans against their life insurance policies, it said.
Other policies include improving banks’ controls on their sales agents given rising instances of malpractice, and encouraging financial institutions to disclose climate change and information security risks.
PERSISTENT RUMORS: Nvidia’s CEO said the firm is not in talks to sell AI chips to China, but he would welcome a change in US policy barring the activity Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company is not in discussions to sell its Blackwell artificial intelligence (AI) chips to Chinese firms, waving off speculation it is trying to engineer a return to the world’s largest semiconductor market. Huang, who arrived in Taiwan yesterday ahead of meetings with longtime partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), took the opportunity to clarify recent comments about the US-China AI race. The Nvidia head caused a stir in an interview this week with the Financial Times, in which he was quoted as saying “China will win” the AI race. Huang yesterday said
Japanese technology giant Softbank Group Corp said Tuesday it has sold its stake in Nvidia Corp, raising US$5.8 billion to pour into other investments. It also reported its profit nearly tripled in the first half of this fiscal year from a year earlier. Tokyo-based Softbank said it sold the stake in Silicon Vally-based Nvidia last month, a move that reflects its shift in focus to OpenAI, owner of the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT. Softbank reported its profit in the April-to-September period soared to about 2.5 trillion yen (about US$13 billion). Its sales for the six month period rose 7.7 percent year-on-year
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ¥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples
MORE WEIGHT: The national weighting was raised in one index while holding steady in two others, while several companies rose or fell in prominence MSCI Inc, a global index provider, has raised Taiwan’s weighting in one of its major indices and left the country’s weighting unchanged in two other indices after a regular index review. In a statement released on Thursday, MSCI said it has upgraded Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country World Index by 0.02 percentage points to 2.25 percent, while maintaining the weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, the most closely watched by foreign institutional investors, at 20.46 percent. Additionally, the index provider has left Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country Asia ex-Japan Index unchanged at 23.15 percent. The latest index adjustments are to