The Executive Yuan yesterday passed a four-year, NT$1.34 billion (US$41.86 million) plan to reinforce the nation’s digital resilience.
The Ministry of Digital Affairs said that the government’s digital resilience project would reinforce fixed telecommunications networks to process encrypted data on public cloud servers during peacetime, and use satellites and mobile communication networks to access critical core functions on the public cloud.
Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) told a meeting of the Executive Yuan that the project would help realize President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) goal to build a more resilient nation, which she first promised in her Double Ten National Day address last year.
Photo: Reuters
The project would utilize cross-sector public cloud computing to encrypt and back up information generated by 18 critical civilian systems, forming a vital core that would allow the government to maintain essential digital services in an emergency, Chen said.
The project would also hasten the government’s return to functionality in the event of a disaster, he said.
Taiwan is racing against time, as global affairs are changing by the second, he said, adding that ministries should prioritize transfers of critical civilian systems to the cloud.
The digital ministry should provide assistance and programs for local governments and ministries to train sufficient personnel with the skills to enhance Taiwan’s digital resilience, Chen said.
Separately, Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs Chiueh Her-ming (闕河鳴) said that the ministry wants to keep some systems — such as those utilized by the National Health Insurance, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ vehicle management system and the Ministry of the Interior’s border control systems — running in the event of natural disasters.
The digital ministry encrypts and stores data in “blocks” separately on public-domain cloud servers, Chiueh said, adding that the system is “mathematically sound,” although information security cannot be 100 percent.
This method ensures that even if individuals were to somehow obtain part of the information, it would be meaningless, he said.
The decision to implement the system was made with the evolution of cryptography in mind and that the system is a low-risk way to store information, he added.
Additional reporting by CNA
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