Taiwan is to test its cyberdefense capabilities in the first-ever Cyber Offensive and Defensive Exercises to be held with the US in November, Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said yesterday.
Chen, who is also head of the Cabinet department for information security, said that in the wake of increasing cyberattacks targeting the government, the department has been holding regular cybersecurity drills to test the readiness and responsive capabilities of related authorities.
As part of ongoing efforts to respond to such threats, Chen said Taiwan and the US are to hold the five-day Cyber Offensive and Defensive Exercises in early November.
Photo: Ko Yu-hao, Taipei Times
The drill was first announced by American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Brent Christensen during a cybersecurity forum in Taipei on Tuesday.
According to Chen, the exercises will be similar to the Cyber Storm exercises, which are the US Department of Homeland Security’s exercises to strengthen cyberpreparedness in the public and private sectors, held every two years.
First launched in 2006, the exercises were last held in the spring of last year.
Chen said the upcoming exercises in Taiwan would be divided into two parts, with the first testing the response of government staff and officials to phishing e-mails or text messages, which are the most common form of cyberattack.
The second part of the drill would examine responses in the public and private sectors to cyberattacks launched from foreign countries or locally, he said.
The Cyber Offensive and Defensive Exercises are scheduled to bring together teams from 15 nations to address simulated cyberthreats from North Korea, targeting social engineering, critical infrastructure and financial institutions, Chen said.
He would not name the 15 countries, saying only that the teams would be Asian, European and American.
The teams are to be designated blue (defense) and red (attack), with Taiwan’s security team as the blue team and the 15 other countries as the red team.
The simulated attacks will attempt to hack official Taiwanese government Web sites to test the capability of local cybersecurity teams to protect them and respond to the potential effects of such attacks, Chen said.
Taiwan is hoping that the debut cybersecurity drill will not only prepare the government for attacks, but also help Taiwan and other nations form a joint cybersecurity network, he added.
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it expects its 2-nanometer (2nm) chip capacity to grow at a compound annual rate of 70 percent from this year to 2028. The projection comes as five fabs begin volume production of 2-nanometer chips this year — two in Hsinchu and three in Kaohsiung — TSMC senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer Cliff Hou (侯永清) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Silicon Valley, California, last week. Output in the first year of 2-nanometer production, which began in the fourth quarter of last year, is expected to
Taiwan’s drone exports surged past US$100 million in the first quarter, exceeding last year’s full-year total, with the Czech Republic emerging as the largest buyer, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Exports of complete drones reached US$115.85 million in the period, about 1.2 times the total recorded for all of last year, the ministry said in a report. Exports to the Czech Republic accounted for about US$100 million, far outpacing other markets. Poland, last year’s top destination, recorded about US$11.75 million in the first quarter. Taiwan’s drone exports have expanded rapidly in the past few years, with last year’s total
RSS