Network devices from several Chinese manufacturers are insecure and allow personal information to be leaked, testing commissioned by the Executive Yuan has shown.
A variety of devices and software, including apps, from Chinese, US and South Korean manufacturers that are used by government agencies at the central and local level were subjected to black-box testing — in which the functionality of an application is examined without knowing about its internal structure, an information-security official said yesterday on condition of anonymity.
The Telecom Technology Center conducted the tests, which simulated cyberattacks, to determine their resilience to the attacks, the official said.
The center said it would send the results of the tests to the manufacturers and retest the affected devices in two months, pending software updates.
The Chinese manufacturers included Xiaomi Corp (小米), Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp (歐珀), Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co (杭州海康威視數字技術) and Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co (浙江大華技術).
Information stored on some of the tested Chinese-made products was found to be insecure, the official said.
Of the software that failed to meet national requirements for information security, one app was from Oppo and seven were from Xiaomi, while software and devices from Samsung Electronics Co and Apple Inc passed all their tests, the official said.
Tests on devices from Hikvision and Dahua were aimed at testing the security of their system software, identity-recognition software, authorization mechanisms and their protection of personal information, the official said.
The monitoring software in Hikvision network camera model DFI 6257E and Dahua infrared camera model DH-IPC-HFW1230SN exhibited abnormal behavior, did not have alert functions and received a relatively low score of seven in version 3.1 of the Common Vulnerability Scoring System, which indicates security loopholes, the official said.
Both devices also used an insecure encryption system and an insufficiently complex verification system, and neither had shells designed to prevent dismantling, the official said.
The center also conducted tests on drones built by Shenzhen DJI Sciences and Technologies (深圳大疆創新科技有限公司), which supplies the drones used by Taiwan Water Corp (台灣自來水).
Tests on the company’s Mavic Pro, Mavic 2 Pro and Phantom 4 Pro V2.0 models showed signs of signal interference, which appeared in the devices’ logs, the official said.
They all had weak information-security mechanisms, among other problems, the official added.
EXTRADITION DEAL? A former prosecutor said that the US Department of Justice might ask Taiwan to extradite the men in return for the US doing something in return The US won arrest warrants for three Taiwanese men — a former president of China-based Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co (福建晉華) and two engineers — charged with stealing secrets from Idaho-based Micron Technology Inc. The effort to apprehend the three men — former Fujian Jinhua president Stephen Chen (陳正坤), and Ho Chien-ting (何建廷) and Wang Yong-ming (王永銘), who work for Taiwan-based United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) — is notable because they were charged in 2018 in the first case filed under the “China initiative” of US President Donald Trump’s administration targeting trade-secret theft, hacking and economic espionage. However, legal experts have said
There was a net reduction last year in the number of Taipei residents and this year is expected to set a 23-year high for population decline in the city, Ministry of the Interior statistics released yesterday showed. From January to last month, 18,861 more people moved out of Taipei than moved into the capital, an increase of 7,000 from the same period last year, the data showed. That is a 7.2 percent decrease in the city’s population since the start of the year, the biggest drop in both percentage and total number among all municipalities and counties nationwide, the data showed. The data
COUNCILS CLASH: The Mainland Affairs Council said a new office in Hong Kong is to assist people with issues related to investment, study and employment in Taiwan The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday denied an accusation by the Hong Kong-Taiwan Economic and Cultural Co-operation and Promotion Council that its Taiwanese counterpart in the territory was “interfering with Hong Kong’s internal affairs.” The Hong Kong council leveled the accusation after Taipei’s Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council this month announced it would establish a Taiwan-Hong Kong Services and Exchanges Office to facilitate humanitarian aid for Hong Kongers. The new office is scheduled to begin operations on Wednesday. The MAC yesterday asked the Hong Kong council to “not misinterpret” the government’s intentions. The two Taiwan-Hong Kong councils were established in 2010 to
IRRESPONSIBLE ATTITUDES? Some experts say the NHI system does not do enough to educate the public, or pay doctors to talk to patients, about healthy lifestyles While the life expectancy of Taiwanese newborns in 2018 reached 80.69 years, the number of years people spent in poor health hit a record high at 8.41 years, Ministry of Health and Welfare statistics showed on Saturday. Healthy life expectancy is calculated by a person’s life expectancy minus the time they spend in ill health, such as the loss of mobility, disabilities and chronic disease, based on medical records and calculations about the years they live with disabilities. The number of years that Taiwanese spend in poor health is increasing slowly, but steadily, rising by 0.46 years, or five-and-a-half months, between 2012
RSS