Evidence indicates that data allegedly leaked from the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) might have been given to China, media reported yesterday as prosecutors and the agency continued separate probes into the case.
Prosecutors on Monday last week launched an investigation into retired NHIA chief secretary Yeh Feng-ming (葉逢明), and current NHIA employees Lee Jen-hui (李仁輝) and Hsieh Yu-lien (謝玉蓮).
Data allegedly leaked by Yeh included personal information of high-level government officials and intelligence personnel, the Chinese-language Mirror Media magazine reported yesterday.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
Yeh has traveled to mainland China via Hong Kong and Macau more than 10 times in the past few years, the magazine reported, adding that a large amount of money from unknown sources was remitted to his family bank account after each trip.
It also reported that he loaded National Health Insurance (NHI) data onto USB flash drives over 13 years at the agency.
The NHIA has formed a task force to conduct an internal administrative investigation into the case, but has so far found no evidence of the suspects storing data on flash drives, NHIA Director-General Lee Po-chang (李伯璋) said yesterday.
Lee Po-chang said that the NHIA would respect the results of the prosecutors’ investigation, adding that he had no knowledge of the Mirror Media report.
Asked about Yeh’s trips to China, Lee Po-chang said, without elaborating, that the employer submitted proper leave requests.
Yeh had no clearance to access the NHI’s underwriting system in his previous positions and the NHIA’s preliminary investigation found no search history linked to him, the agency said.
Hsieh and Lee Jen-hui, who were both in charge of underwriting for more than 10 years, had clearance to access the system and their job required them to search for data on the system, it said.
Hsieh made more than 133,000 searches and Lee Jen-hui more than 35,000 during the time they worked at the agency, it said.
Hsieh conducted more than 110,000 searches in 2018, an abnormal amount, while the number of searches conducted by Lee Jen-hui remained about the same each year, it said.
The NHIA asked the public not to speculate about the case, adding that it planned to complete its internal investigation tomorrow and has begun to reinforce its cybersecurity procedures.
The sources and mechanisms to verify facts of the magazine’s report were unclear, the NHIA said in a statement.
The NHIA lamented the accusations against its former and current staff, and would cooperate fully with prosecutors, it said, adding that it would mete out severe punishment for any illegal behavior.
Tsai Hsiu-ching (蔡秀卿), director of the NHIA’s ethics office, said that the agency transferred the suspects from their positions as section chiefs and revoked their data access clearance immediately after the accusations were made.
It also formed a task force following Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan’s (薛瑞元) instructions and started reviewing the clearance of all NHIA staff, Tsai said.
As for information security, the NHIA has tightened controls of sensitive information, improved the review mechanism for large-scale searches, reviewed the data management process and drawn up better on-the-job training material, she said.
Prosecutors said that the suspects might have contravened the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法) if the personal data of intelligence personnel were leaked.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office released Hsieh on bail of NT$100,000 due to her abnormal search history, while Yeh and Lee Po-chang were released without bail on insufficient evidence.
Prosecutors would continue to probe whether any abnormal cash flows were linked to the suspects, and whether they leaked personal information to China or other foreign forces, the office said.
Additional reporting by Chien Li-chung
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
DETERMINATION: Beijing’s actions toward Tokyo have drawn international attention, but would likely bolster regional coordination and defense networks, the report said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration is likely to prioritize security reforms and deterrence in the face of recent “hybrid” threats from China, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said. The bureau made the assessment in a written report to the Legislative Yuan ahead of an oral report and questions-and-answers session at the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The key points of Japan’s security reforms would be to reinforce security cooperation with the US, including enhancing defense deployment in the first island chain, pushing forward the integrated command and operations of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and US Forces Japan, as
‘TROUBLEMAKER’: Most countries believe that it is China — rather than Taiwan — that is undermining regional peace and stability with its coercive tactics, the president said China should restrain itself and refrain from being a troublemaker that sabotages peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks after China Coast Guard vessels sailed into disputed waters off the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Taiwan — following a remark Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made regarding Taiwan. Takaichi during a parliamentary session on Nov. 7 said that a “Taiwan contingency” involving a Chinese naval blockade could qualify as a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, and trigger Tokyo’s deployment of its military for defense. Asked about the escalating tensions
The Ministry of Economic Affairs said it plans to revise the export control list for strategic high-tech products by adding 18 items under three categories — advanced 3D printing equipment, advanced semiconductor equipment and quantum computers — which would require local manufacturers to obtain licenses for their export. The ministry’s announcement yesterday came as the International Trade Administration issued a 60-day preview period for planned revisions to the Export Control List for Dual Use Items and Technology (軍商兩用貨品及技術出口管制清單) and the Common Military List (一般軍用貨品清單), which fall under regulations governing export destinations for strategic high-tech commodities and specific strategic high-tech commodities. The
RSS