The Ministry of National Defense (MND) has stepped up measures to avoid classified information leaks concerning this year’s Han Kuang military exercise as computer-based warfare simulation for the exercise gets underway.
An official with the ministry’s communications and electronics department, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the Taipei Times that in addition to constant renewals of virus protection on the computers and constant education and reminders for its personnel, a stricter security measure has been implemented whereby no related personnel may continue their work outside the office after office hours.
All computers and disks with classified information must remain onsite and they must be formatted when the entire project is finished, the official said.
PAST ERRORS
Last year an official involved in the warfare simulation for the Han Kuang military exercise brought his laptop with classified information home and continued to work after office hours. When downloading software from Chinese Web sites onto his laptop, back-door access programs were also installed. Hackers then stole the classified information from his computer without the officer’s knowledge.
THREE THREATS
Usually the department’s major challenges include human errors, hacker attacks and virus problems, the official said. Most human error is the result of negligence when some military personnel bring USB disks or laptops with classified information home to continue their work.
Some other service men and women might not strictly follow the rules to format related disks or delete classified information when they have finished their work.
“Many officers work too hard. They brought home information that should never leave the house after office hours otherwise. They never thought that classified information would leak just like that,” the official said. “As the result, we have constantly educated our fellow military personnel and I believe mistakes like that will be decreased and avoided.”
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
RSS