The HITCON hacking congress is seeking to help companies and individuals learn survival skills in a virtual world where cyberwarfare and hacking attacks have become increasingly common, the Association of Hackers in Taiwan said at its opening at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center yesterday.
“The world is being affected by the Russia-Ukraine war. Taiwan is a frontier of cyberwarfare and needs to pay attention to the situation and learn the necessary survival skills from hackers,” said Mars Cheng (鄭仲倫), a member of the association’s organizing team.
The annual event, which drew more than 1,000 participants this year, is Taiwan’s largest security technology conference for hackers, who gathered to “share the latest and advanced security technology, and have discussions with everyone,” the event’s Web site said.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
More than 30 security research reports and state-of-the-art technologies are to be presented at the two-day meeting, themed “Survival Guide for the Cyber War,” the association said.
Cheng, a cyberthreat researcher at TXOne Networks’ IoT/ICS Security Research Labs and Trend Micro, said the hacking conference started with 50 participants 18 years ago, but now also influences the hacking scenes in Japan and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
As information security has grown “explosively” in many areas over the past few years, human resources demand and technology development have also soared, Cheng said.
Information security has become a subject “about which people should have at least some knowledge,” he added.
“HITCON hopes to convey to Taiwanese why information security is so important,” he said, citing the example of Moscow’s and Kyiv’s cyberwarfare campaigns since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said Taiwan had been targeted by hybrid cyberwarfare after China launched military exercises around the nation early this month.
She said she hopes Taiwanese can improve their ability to identify misinformation, and that information security professionals will join the government’s efforts to boost the nation’s overall resilience against cyberwarfare.
The organizers said HITCON encourages hackers to put their skills to good use.
“We hope that the energy and the spirit of the hacker community can keep protecting society and enterprises, and simultaneously satisfy the needs of the hacker community and enterprises,” they said on the event’s Web site.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS