The government would have allocated a total of NT$10.1 billion (US$349.5 million) on enhancing the nation’s information security by next year, but the mechanisms for 5G cybersecurity are still not sufficiently in place, which could lead to major data protection risks, a report by the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said.
The government has spent increasingly more funds on boosting cybersecurity each year, with the budget this year being NT$2.17 billion, a 46.8 percent hike from three years earlier, the report said, citing statistics.
The budget for next year is NT$1.21 billion, so all the money spent over the past four years and next year totals about NT$10.1 billion, it said.
Meanwhile, taking advantage of the high smartphone penetration rate in Taiwan, the government is developing 5G technology on a national level, with related projects expected to cost a total of NT$80 billion in the next seven years, the report said.
Although it is high-speed and has a low latency, 5G connectivity could face trickier and more diverse cybersecurity threats, as one of its main features is open network architecture, it said.
With an increasing number of cyberattacks targeting Taiwan’s government agencies, corporations and major infrastructure, the legal environment should be adaptive, so that the defense mechanisms for 5G cybersecurity can be bolstered, the report said.
The center criticized the execution of an NT$180 million four-year National Communications Commission project related to Taiwan’s 5G development, saying that it only had an execution rate of 35.32 percent as of July, so more effort must be made to improve efficiency.
Executive Yuan spokesman Ting Yi-ming (丁怡銘) on Sunday said that information security industries play a critical role in the “six core strategic industries” that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) hopes to support in her second term, as they concern not only 5G technologies and digital transformation, but also national security.
While the government’s efforts to develop 5G networks and enhance cybersecurity are under way, it would ask offices to discuss the suggestions provided by the center, Ting said.
As 5G networks have massive connectivity to the Internet of Things (IoT), the government has stipulated that information and communications devices used in the nation’s critical infrastructure cannot be made in China, he said.
The Executive Yuan is still contemplating the list of products prohibited from being imported to Taiwan to prevent weak spots in data security, Ting said, adding that once finished, the list would be made public.
The list would be compiled based on a product’s “functions,” rather than brand, Ting said, adding that China-sponsored products or companies with Chinese holdings are likely to be banned.
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