Following a surge in phishing scams, the Ministry of Digital Affairs on Tuesday fined online marketplace Shopee and local bookstore Eslite for failing to protect customer data.
Singapore-based Shopee and Eslite Spectrum Co were fined NT$200,000 and NT$100,000 respectively for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法), the ministry said in a statement.
Shopee, which the Criminal Investigation Bureau in March said was the consumer-to-consumer (C2C) platform on which people were most likely to be exposed to phishing scams, failed to take concrete action to address the threats it faced, the ministry said.
Photo: Hsu Tzu-ling, Taipei Times
When Shopee was asked for information, it only provided a limited amount of data about customer safety, the ministry said, adding that it failed to prove it had taken the necessary measures to protect customer data.
Shopee also failed to effectively supervise partners it outsources to, which contributed to the leak, the ministry said.
Reports to the 165 anti-fraud hotline led to the discovery of the phishing attacks on C2C platforms, it said.
The hackers’ goal is to steal personal or business information used by customers to carry out online transactions and use it to scam people, it said.
Eslite was found to have poor account management during an on-site inspection, the ministry said.
The bookstore came under fire last month after a customer’s private data were allegedly leaked to a supposed Chinese agent.
NGO worker Cynthia Yang (楊欣慈) received a telephone call in February from someone claiming to be a Taiwanese pollster who asked questions about a book titled If China Attacks (阿共打來怎麼辦), which Yang had purchased from Eslite’s online bookstore.
However, the caller’s accent and terminology suggested they were not Taiwanese, said Yang, who is deputy executive secretary of the Here I Stand Project, a Taiwanese non-profit organization that seeks to promote the nation’s youth internationally.
The caller also kept emphasizing how “sensitive” the book’s contents were and insisted that “a military unification [of Taiwan and China] was inevitable,” Yang told a news conference held by her organization and the Taiwan Statebuilding Party on May 14.
The ministry said that it would continue to monitor the companies and other e-commerce firms.
Shopee and Eslite need to make improvements soon to avoid more fines, it added.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
RSS