Trend Micro Inc (趨勢科技), the nation’s top software company by market share, anticipates double-digit sales growth in Taiwan this year as the need for information technology (IT) security becomes even more pressing amid increasing Internet activity worldwide.
As a leader in Internet content security, Trend Micro reported 15 percent year-on-year domestic revenue growth last year, capturing around 46 percent of the local anti-virus market, the company said at a press briefing on Wednesday.
The company said that wide use of universal serial bus (USB) devices and the Internet has made USB and Web threats the two main sources of security issues. The top three viruses that affected domestic computers last year were the downloader virus, the vital information resource under siege virus and the portable executive virus, accounting for 35 percent, 22 percent, and 12 percent of reported local cases.
Oscar Chang (張偉欽), executive vice president of Trend Micro’s Greater China region, warned of rising potential threats this year, including attacks on social networking Web sites, USB-embedded spyware and malicious software written specifically for smartphone platforms.
“As social networking becomes mainstream, these Web sites become festering grounds for criminal activities. For instance, by stealing information from powersellers and spamming their clients, high-tech thieves can engage in transactions with unsuspecting shoppers and sell items that they don’t have,” said Samson Tai (戴燊), marketing director of Trend Micro’s Taiwan business unit.
“Moreover, it’s not enough to simply ignore spam e-mails; often times, hackers send personal e-mails mimicking an acquaintance, but as soon as you open the encoded e-mail, your computer’s infected,” Tai added.
Furthermore, electronic devices with USB autorun programs, such as smartphones, are turning into favorable mediums to transfer malware from one computer to another, the company said.
With each computer sync, spyware is transferred onto computers, which is increasing viruses online at faster speeds than anti-virus companies can track them, Tai said.
Trend Micro also foresees Internet criminals directly writing malicious softwares for smartphone platforms such as Windows mobile and Linux.
Also, with the emerging trend of cloud computing, virtual resources are provided as a service over the Internet, putting worldwide computer users at risk.
“Applications such as Web 2.0 or the Google applications are examples of cloud computing, and their virus attacks are much more severe and direct,” Chang said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) yesterday said that Intel Corp would find itself in the same predicament as it did four years ago if its board does not come up with a core business strategy. Chang made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions about the ailing US chipmaker, once an archrival of TSMC, during a news conference in Taipei for the launch of the second volume of his autobiography. Intel unexpectedly announced the immediate retirement of former chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger last week, ending his nearly four-year tenure and ending his attempts to revive the
Taiwan would remain in the same international network for carrying out cross-border payments and would not be marginalized on the world stage, despite jostling among international powers, central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) said yesterday. Yang made the remarks during a speech at an annual event organized by Financial Information Service Co (財金資訊), which oversees Taiwan’s banking, payment and settlement systems. “The US dollar will remain the world’s major cross-border payment tool, given its high liquidity, legality and safe-haven status,” Yang said. Russia is pushing for a new cross-border payment system and highlighted the issue during a BRICS summit in October. The existing system
Convenience store operator Lawson Inc has registered trademarks in Taiwan, sparking rumors that the Japanese chain is to enter the local market. The company on Aug. 30 filed trademarks for the names Lawson and Lawson Station, according to publicly available information from the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Intellectual Property Office. The product categories on the application include some of Lawson’s top-selling items for use in the convenience store market. The discovery has led to speculation online that the popular Japanese chain is to enter the Taiwanese market. However, some pointed out that it might be a preemptive application to avoid others from co-opting the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to grow its revenue by about 25 percent to a new record high next year, driven by robust demand for advanced technologies used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications and crypto mining, International Data Corp (IDC) said yesterday. That would see TSMC secure a 67 percent share of the world’s foundry market next year, from 64 percent this year, IDC senior semiconductor research manager Galen Zeng (曾冠瑋) predicted. In the broader foundry definition, TSMC would see its market share rise to 36 percent next year from 33 percent this year, he said. To address concerns
RSS