The first-ever international cyberexercises cohosted by Taiwan and the US opened yesterday in Taipei, with global cyberattacks, especially from North Korea and China, the focus of the five-day event.
Taiwan has been holding the Cyber Offensive and Defensive Exercises (CODE) every two years since 2013, but this year is the first time that foreign teams have participated. More than 10 countries — including Australia, the Czech Republic, Japan and Malaysia — have sent participants.
Speaking at the opening ceremony at Microsoft Taiwan’s offices, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Deputy Director Raymond Greene said this year’s exercises mark a new frontier in ever-deepening cybercooperation between the US and Taiwan.
Photo: CNA
They are aimed at strengthening domestic cyberdefenses and related skills, and promoting closer international cooperation on cybersecurity, he said.
“Ultimately, the success of this week will be measured by whether all of you remain in close contact with each other after the exercises are over,” Greene said.
Greene was standing in for AIT Director Brent Christensen, who yesterday joined Taiwan External Trade Development Council (外貿協會) Chairman James Huang (黃志芳) in leading a delegation to the Indo-Pacific Business Forum in Bangkok.
The AIT has been working closely with Taiwanese authorities to bring Taiwan into the US Department of Homeland Security’s Automated Indicator Sharing system, which shares cyberthreat indicators at machine speed, Green said.
The biggest threats today are no longer troops landing on beaches, but efforts by malign actors to use the openness of societies and networks to attack industries, democratic institutions and the integrity of critical infrastructure, he said.
Taiwan is particularly threatened by such attacks, with its public sector facing an average of 30 million cross-border cyberattacks per month last year, Department of Cybersecurity Director-General Howard Jyan (簡宏偉) said.
Although only a small fraction of them resulted in theft or tampering of confidential or sensitive information, the number of cyberattacks against Taiwan are considered high compared with European countries, which are hit by an average of several thousand attacks monthly, Jyan said.
When pressed by reporters, he estimated that about half of the attacks came from China, but said that it is not the only malign actor being given attention at this week’s exercises.
The exercises include training and exercises provided by the US government on North Korea’s cyberthreats, live-action exercises and a discussion on lessons learned, the AIT said.
A seminar on North Korean hacking makes up the first days.
The simulation, which begins tomorrow, is to see red teams made up of foreign and Taiwanese specialists launch simulated attacks on Taiwanese government and financial institutions’ Web sites, while a blue team of just Taiwanese experts are to try to detect and defend against those threats.
VIGILANCE: While two of the cases are family members of a nurse, there is no sign of community spread and the source of infection is identifiable, the CECC said The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported four new domestic COVID-19 cases associated with a cluster infection at a Taoyuan hospital. Since the first case was identified on Tuesday last week, five healthcare workers — two doctors and three nurses — at the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Taoyuan General Hospital have tested positive for the virus. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that two of the four new cases are the husband and daughter of a nurse (case No. 863) who had earlier been confirmed to have COVID-19. The husband (case No. 864)
INCURSION: After 13 PLA aircraft flew into Taiwan’s ADIZ, the US Department of State said that China should rather ‘engage in meaningful dialogue’ with Taiwan US President Joe Biden’s administration on Saturday urged China to stop placing military pressure on Taiwan, while calling on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to engage in peaceful dialogue. The statement by the US Department of State was issued after 13 Chinese military aircraft flew into Taiwan’s southwest air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Saturday, the highest number observed in a single day this year, the Ministry of National Defense said. The air force scrambled fighter jets to monitor the Chinese aircraft, issuing radio warnings and mobilizing air defense assets until the planes left the ADIZ. The US “notes
CHANGE OF GUARD: Hsiao Bi-khim’s attendance at Joe Biden’s inauguration will come as a boost to those in Taiwan who feared that the new US administration would be less friendly than that of Donald Trump to the nation Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) is to attend US President Joe Biden’s swearing-in ceremony at the US Capitol after she was invited by the US Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, a news release issued by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in the US said last night. The news came as a surprise as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been reticent about the matter, while Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members had accused the Democratic Progressive Party administration of hedging its bets on the Republican Party. Asked about when Hsiao received the invitation, the ministry did not
FAMILY UNIT: The CECC warned that the eldest sister of the latest case, who also has COVID-19, visited Taoyuan’s Chungping evening market on Tuesday and Wednesday The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported a domestic case of COVID-19, associated with a recent cluster infection at Taoyuan General Hospital, and two imported cases. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that the latest case (No. 885) is a woman in her 50s, who is the third daughter of case No. 881, a man in his 90s. The woman is the main caregiver of her elderly father, who had been hospitalized earlier this month and was treated by a nurse (case No. 852) from Monday to Thursday last week, he said, adding that
RSS