Taiwan is increasingly under threat from cyberattacks, but it still largely relies on imported software and hardware for cybersecurity, information security specialists said on Sunday.
Taiwan has the highest frequency of cyberattacks in Asia due to its geopolitical status, and the situation is being exacerbated by an increasing reliance on cloud-based services and the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI), Taipei University of Technology vice president Yang Shih-hsuan (楊士萱) said.
Systex Solutions Corp vice president Chan Yi-cheng (詹伊正) said that Taiwanese start-ups are reluctant to develop their own systems due to the relatively small size of the domestic market and the large amount of capital needed.
The issue must be addressed through policy support, and subsequently through legislation that prohibits Taiwanese firms from using components made in China or elsewhere in the domestic manufacture of cybersecurity systems, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator-at-large Puma Shen (沈伯洋) said.
The government should not leave the development of such crucial technology to private industry alone, and should do more to cultivate local talent, he said.
Chan said the industry is facing a shortage of about 80,000 people, and without government assistance it is unlikely to secure the talent and funding it needs.
The ruling DPP has prioritized the development of the domestic defense industry, and this must include cybersecurity.
The EU’s European External Action Service’s second Report on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Threats, published on Jan. 23, highlighted cyberattacks targeting Taiwan from Dec. 1, 2022, to Nov. 30 last year. The attacks listed in the report mostly comprised “non-illegal pattern of behavior that threatens or has the potential to negatively impact values, procedures and political processes.” However, while most cyberattacks originating in China currently are part of cognitive warfare efforts aimed at social disruption in Taiwan, China could try to compromise Taiwan’s critical infrastructure.
A report by NBC News on Aug. 13 last year cited the US’ Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s annual threat assessment report as saying that “China almost certainly is capable of launching cyber attacks that could disrupt critical infrastructure services within the United States.”
Beijing would likely seek do so in the event of an attack on Taiwan, as a means of deterring the US from involvement in the conflict, the news report cited US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency director Jen Easterly as saying.
If Beijing could launch effective cyberattacks on US infrastructure during a conflict in the Taiwan Strait, then it would most certainly do the same to Taiwan. Such infrastructure-targeting cyberattacks are no longer hypothetical, after hackers on Nov. 25 last year took control of a part of the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa in the US state of Pennsylvania. The hackers entered the system through an Israeli-made programmable logic controller, the Hill reported on Dec. 23.
This is all the more reason for Taiwan to develop its own cybersecurity software and hardware. Taiwanese information security specialist Liu Yan-po (劉彥伯) said that many of the systems in use in Taiwan come from the US or Israel. If hackers from China and elsewhere were capable of compromising US and Israeli systems, they would have a head start during an attack on Taiwan. Locally developed systems could slow down hackers enough for Taiwanese officials to launch response measures or switch to backup systems.
To ensure that Taiwan can remain resilient in the face of cyberthreats, the government should begin funding the development of domestically made cybersecurity systems, and encourage training in the industry through subsidies or guaranteed employment. Experts have predicted that the next major war would be fought in cyberspace, and while events in Ukraine prove that Taiwan must still be prepared for conventional warfare, it must also prepare itself on the digital front — before it is too late.
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