The National Communications Commission (NCC) is planning to establish a certification system for mobile phone security following reports that Chinese smartphone vendor Xiaomi automatically sends personal information to its servers in Bejing without first securing the consent of users.
A story published in a blog post of Finnish security company F-Secure Corp indicated that Xiaomi smatphones’ built-in text-messaging application, MIUI, can send users’ information to the company’s servers in Beijing without their approval.
Because of the loophole, the report said that the Chinese vendor can access users’ mobile phone number, the international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) code as well as the SIM card number.
The international mobile subscriber identity code would be exposed too if the user signs on to Xiaomi’s cloud service, the report said.
Similar to Apple Inc’s iMessage service, MIUI allows users to send text messages through the Internet rather than through telecoms’ networks.
The story was subsequently picked up by Taiwanese media outlets, with Xiaomi users in Taiwan reportedly topping 400,000. The Beijing-based smartphone vendor first denied the reports, but later apologized for the unauthorized data collection.
It added that the messaging system would only be activated on an “opt-in” basis and personal information would be encrypted and would not be stored on its servers.
The commission said it told the Chinese company to inspect all types of phones — not only the two mentioned in the F-Secure blog — that it sells in Taiwan and determine if they have the same issue.
“We have notified them that they should provide a written explanation of how they plan to address the issue,” said Lo Chin-hsien (羅金賢), director of the commission’s Resources and Technologies Department. “We will ask them to come in and answer questions if necessary.”
The commission is to meet with other mobile phone manufacturers soon to discuss how they address information security issues, Lo said.
He added that the Executive Yuan has determined that the applications built into mobile phones will be tested by the commission, while applications downloaded via mobile phones will be supervised by the Industrial Development Bureau.
While the commission has a certification system for mobile phone interfaces, batteries and other specifications, it does not have one yet for information security.
It is aiming to establish an information security mechanism by the end of next year, he said.
“Currently, there is no country in the world that demands that mobile phone manufacturers have national certifications for information security. We can only encourage mobile phone manufacturers to take such certification when it becomes available,” he said.
Lo said the mechanism would not only target mobile phones produced in China, but it would apply to other manufacturers as well.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to