The government has listed scores of state and privately owned enterprises as key parts of infrastructure that must be secured against cyberattacks, an Executive Yuan official said on Saturday on condition of anonymity.
Institutions listed by the government have the duty to meet cybersecurity standards, and a failure to report a possible or confirmed attack could be punished by a NT$5 million (US$175,982) fine, the official said.
The official declined to name the institutions, as doing so could compromise security, but said that there are no more than 100.
Photo: CNA
The local Chinese-language media have speculated that CTBC Bank (中國信託銀行), Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行), Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行), Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行), Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行) and First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) are on the list, given that the Financial Supervisory Commission had previously designated them as the nation’s six systematically important banks.
The Executive Yuan might also have included the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區) and Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學工業園區), as they are deemed to be the operators of a significant part of the nation’s technological infrastructure, local media reported.
Additionally, Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大), Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) and Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團) are also likely to have been included, they said.
According to the Executive Yuan, critical infrastructure facilities in the energy, water resources, information technology, transportation, finance, emergency medical services sectors, central and local government units, and institutions and science parks would have to observe the regulations.
The Executive Yuan is defining critical infrastructure facilities as digital assets, systems and networks that, if they completely cease to operate or operated at lower efficacy, would severely affect national security, social and public welfare, public life and economic activities. All facilities meeting the government’s definition must enact measures, or attune existing measures to the new designated cybersecurity standards, while providing the central government with details on how they are implementing its cybersecurity updates.
Should the authorities find their plans to be lacking, they are obligated to demand that the facilities present a report on how they intend to address the shortcoming and bring their systems up to standard, the government said.
Any entity considered to be a critical infrastructure facility that fails to observe the new standards could be fined NT$300,000 to NT$5 million and must bring its facility in line with the standards within a given time frame, the government said.
Entities that fail to comply within the time frame could be fined consecutively for each infraction, it added.
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