The Executive Yuan has approved a list of “critical infrastructure” that is part of bolstering the nation’s information security, sources said yesterday.
The critical industries and facilities include the transportation industry, broadcasting networks, the banking and financial sector, hospitals and science parks nationwide, sources added.
All establishments and facilities designated as “critical infrastructure service providers” must submit an information safety plan, and if it is deemed inadequate, they must provide a detailed report to the authorities on how they would eliminate shortcomings and shore up their information technology safety, the sources said.
Government agencies have stepped up their information security measures, so they do not need to submit another plan, they added.
While President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has often stressed that it equates information security to national security, the nation has seen a number of attacks over the years, including a hack into First Commercial Bank’s ATMs in 2016, a ransomware attack on CPC Corp, Taiwan’s systems on May 4 and the leaking of files from the Presidential Office on May 15.
While sources from the Executive Yuan yesterday said that they could not name which establishments or facilities are considered “critical infrastructure,” critical infrastructure service providers would purportedly include the Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR); the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA); the Hsinchu, Taichung and Tainan science parks; Chunghwa Telecom; National Taiwan University Hospital; and Mega Financial Holding.
The THSR and TRA are major transportation providers, and Chunghwa Telecom is the largest and most important network service provider, while a cyberattack against the science parks could affect the nation’s supply chains.
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
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