A hacker who last month infiltrated Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp’s ticketing system is now advocating legislation to protect the rights of “white hats” — computer experts who specialize in identifying vulnerabilities in information systems through penetration testing and other methods.
Chang Chi-yuan (張啟元), 25, was released on bail of NT$100,000 after he was allegedly found to have tampered the ticketing system to provide a NT$200,000 refund for a NT$20 ticket.
“I will not avoid talking about my behavioral issues, nor will I avoid addressing my legal problem, which I hope to resolve by identifying the fundamental problem,” Chang said on Facebook.
The government should create new laws and amend regulations to protect ethical hacking, he said.
Specifically, there should be a state-run platform for Taiwanese companies — regardless of whether they are in traditional or high-tech industries — to request system penetration testing, Chang said, adding that the platform should display the authorization status for white hat operations as well.
If a company welcomes white hat information security testing, the platform would reflect that the company approves such a practice, for which it would set legal boundaries and reward systems for ethical hackers, he said.
Companies whose systems are off-limits to ethical hackers could indicate through the platform that they do not permit the practice and people would be warned that they would face criminal punishment if they ignore the firms’ expressed prohibitions and hack into the systems, he added.
“If there is a specific law and a certification from the government, white hats can clearly know if a company allows information testing. There would be no gray area and it would free hackers from the bind of having to inform the company in advance,” Chang said.
Taiwan has many white hats, but they do not test the information systems of local companies due to fears of legal consequences, he said.
A specific law would create a win-win situation for Taiwanese corporations and ethical hackers, he added.
Creating platforms for ethical hacking is not a new concept, Chang said, citing privately run HackerOne and Bugcrowd as two of the most popular examples.
As no government has created such a platform, Taiwan could make a major leap forward by creating the world’s first state-run platform for white hats, he said.
Randy Tang (唐元亮), an associate professor at Chaoyang University of Technology’s Department of Information Management, told the Chinese-language Apple Daily in an interview that while he approves of amending regulations to allow ethical hacking, he thinks companies should be allowed to decide whether they allow such a practice, adding that hackers must conduct such testing with goodwill and pledge not to harm systems.
“However, following Chang’s logic, companies that refuse to grant such permission would receive negative reviews and even risk tarnishing their images,” Tang said.
Last year, Chang reportedly purchased 502 iPhones for NT$1 by hacking the Apple Pay system.
He was in 2015 fined NT$60,000 for infiltrating a bus operator’s system and buying a ticket for NT$1.
In 2013, he exploited a loophole in Facebook to delete posts by the social media platform’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg.
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