Taiwan faced malicious cybersecurity threats at an average of about 15,000 times per second during the first six months of this year, an 80 percent increase from the same period last year, a report published yesterday by Fortinet showed.
A key hub of the global supply chain, Taiwan has in the past few years emerged as a hot spot for cybersecurity threats, the report by the US-based cybersecurity firm said.
Of the 412 billion malicious cybersecurity threats detected in the Asia-Pacific region during the first half of this year, Taiwan accounted for 55 percent, or 22.48 billion threats, the report said.
Photo: Reuters
On average, nearly 15,000 cyberattacks occurred per second, it said.
Meanwhile, the number of cyberattacks detected from January to June jumped 81.6 percent compared with the same period last year, it said.
The most common types of cyberattacks used by hackers include distributed denial of service attacks and DoublePulsar, a backdoor implant tool developed by the US National Security Agency, Fortinet said.
DoublePulsar, which was leaked by a hacker group in 2017, allows attackers to stealthily collect information and run malicious code on a target’s machine.
Although the amount of ransomware detected plunged 93.4 percent compared with last year, Taiwanese corporations should not let down their guard, as hackers are changing their techniques, the report said.
Instead of launching random attacks on software and hardware, hackers now focus more on targeted attacks to maximize their return on investment, it said.
Fortinet Taiwan manager Eric Wu (吳章銘) said that Taiwanese enterprises should deploy information security solutions driven by artificial intelligence systems, while adopting highly integrated and automated smart platforms.
In so doing, corporate information security teams can better understand vulnerabilities and quickly detect cyberattacks, Wu said.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
REASSURANCE: The US said Taiwan’s interests would not be harmed during the talk and that it remains steadfast in its support for the nation, the foreign minister said US President Donald Trump on Friday said he would bring up Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a meeting on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in South Korea this week. “I will be talking about Taiwan [with Xi],” Trump told reporters before he departed for his trip to Asia, adding that he had “a lot of respect for Taiwan.” “We have a lot to talk about with President Xi, and he has a lot to talk about with us. I think we’ll have a good meeting,” Trump said. Taiwan has long been a contentious issue between the US and China.
GLOBAL PROJECT: Underseas cables ‘are the nervous system of democratic connectivity,’ which is under stress, Member of the European Parliament Rihards Kols said The government yesterday launched an initiative to promote global cooperation on improved security of undersea cables, following reported disruptions of such cables near Taiwan and around the world. The Management Initiative on International Undersea Cables aims to “bring together stakeholders, align standards, promote best practices and turn shared concerns into beneficial cooperation,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said at a seminar in Taipei. The project would be known as “RISK,” an acronym for risk mitigation, information sharing, systemic reform and knowledge building, he said at the seminar, titled “Taiwan-Europe Subsea Cable Security Cooperation Forum.” Taiwan sits at a vital junction on
RSS