Protective measures are to be implemented this month in the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command, including pseudonyms for personnel, and improving internal and external information control, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said yesterday.
China’s Guangzhou City Public Security Bureau on Thursday last week said that it was offering a bounty for 20 people who work for the command for alleged cyberattacks targeting China.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office yesterday said that it would be monitoring all command personnel.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
Taiwanese military experts said that the Ministry of National Defense should reinstate the Military Service Number system, which would decouple military personnel from the national ID system.
Some suspect that a list of command personnel has been leaked to Beijing.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lo Mei-ling (羅美玲) said that the ease with which Chinese agencies have sourced information on personnel at the command, which should be restricted as stipulated in the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法), demonstrated a lack of emphasis on information protection at the command.
Command Chief of Staff Major General Chou Wen-hisang (周文祥) said that the information the Chinese agencies released was cobbled together from public Internet sources and that two-thirds of the people on the list have retired.
In response to questions from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲), Chou said that the command believes the information was sourced from Facebook or job-seeking sites.
The information about personnel at the command above a certain rank is public, Koo said.
The command has measures in place to protect identities, Chou said, adding that the rights and safety of its personnel are ensured.
DPP Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said that inaction over China’s claims would embolden China’s “long-arm jurisdiction” and legal warfare tactics.
China’s “united front” rhetoric, as well as other forms of cognitive warfare aided and abetted by pro-Chinese sympathizers in Taiwan, occurs daily, but the ministry has never considered Taiwan to be under China’s jurisdiction, a fact that must be made clear on the international stage, Koo said.
China conducts the most cyberattacks and among the ministry’s core duties is to ensure information and network safety for the military, he said, adding that the ministry would create appropriate protective measures as stipulated by the National Intelligence Services Act.
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