Taiwan still largely relies on foreign manufacturers for information security-related software and hardware systems, and should strive to boost domestic production to improve security, experts said yesterday.
The government has over the past few years called on listed companies to bolster information security management, including through the establishment of dedicated information security departments, Taipei University of Technology vice president Yang Shih-hsuan (楊士萱) said.
However, the Executive Yuan’s list of information security software manufacturers still mainly comprises foreign companies, he said.
Photo: Reuters
“Both industry and academia agree that policy support for domestic production of information security software should be strengthened,” he said.
“This is the only way we can protect information that is crucial to national security. In particular, Taiwan’s critical infrastructure needs to be made domestically,” he said.
Taiwan has the highest frequency of cyberattacks in Asia due to its geopolitical status, and information security risks in the country would only worsen as industries move software systems to the cloud and introduce artificial intelligence into their operations, he said.
“The government should approach the situation in the same manner as it does the domestic development of naval warships, encouraging the government and private industry to jointly strengthen cybersecurity capabilities,” he said.
Information security products can help a company or government agency quickly get a grasp of the weaknesses in their software systems, information security specialist Liu Yan-po (劉彥伯) said.
“Although the majority of systems used in Taiwan are from major companies in the US and Israel, there is no guarantee of their reliability, which is why Taiwan must seek to make these systems locally,” he said.
Although there is consensus among researchers in Taiwan that information security is a core industry, Taiwan lacks regulations governing the sourcing of information security products, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) said, adding that even domestically made products often contain China-made components.
“The government must first define what constitutes ‘made in Taiwan’ when it comes to such products before it can draft relevant legislation on their manufacture,” he said.
However, the development of information security products would initially require comprehensive data collection and is capital-intensive, which Taiwanese start-ups are often unable to afford, Systex Solutions Corp (精誠資訊) vice president Chan Yi-cheng (詹伊正) said.
Consequently, few Taiwanese companies produce information security software and hardware systems entirely on their own, and most often operate as agents of larger companies, Chan said.
Exacerbating the situation is Taiwan’s relatively small market and difficulty securing talent, he said.
“There is a shortage of about 80,000 people in the industry, with the highest demand being for network security analysts and managers,” he said.
Chan attributed the shortage to the time it takes to train talent, which requires a background in information technology, in addition to six months of legal training, one year of field-specific training, and at least two years of experience dealing with information security incidents prior to permanent employment, he said.
“Therefore, although many listed companies actively train people, it is difficult to keep up with the talent gap and the industry’s rapid expansion,” he said.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’