Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration of wasting its massive cybersecurity budget, after Web domains battled a record number of cyberattacks in response to a visit by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week.
Internet traffic on Tuesday last week peaked at 23 times the previous single-day record and remained high throughout the week, as government Web sites and other online systems came under attack.
Hacker organization APT 27, believed to be a Chinese state-sponsored group, on Wednesday claimed responsibility, although Beijing has refused to comment on the issue.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
The past week has exposed the severity of the risk posed by cyberattacks, KMT Legislator Lee De-wei (李德維) told a news conference at the legislature in Taipei.
Web domains received a maximum score of 100 in a June report on government cybersecurity, yet the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Web site — which was included in the report — was forced down multiple times last week, he said.
The government set an annual budget of nearly NT$450 million (US$15 million) for cybersecurity last year, but the second it faced an attack, “it was like throwing all that money away,” Lee said, adding that even the Web site for the new Ministry of Digital Affairs was outsourced.
Photo: Yang Mien-chieh, Taipei Times
“Can the public really trust this kind of cybersecurity?” he asked.
As for China’s economic sanctions, KMT Legislator Cheng Cheng-chien (鄭正鈐) accused the government of forcing businesses to face the burden on their own, as Taiwanese firms rely on cross-strait trade.
The share of Taiwan’s exports destined for China has steadily increased to 42.31 percent last year, with the trade surplus likely totaling US$80 billion in the first half of this year alone, he said.
Yet Beijing is now becoming stricter, most recently forcing exporters to display “Taiwan, China” or “Chinese Taipei” on their products, he said.
The DPP has been reaping the benefits of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement enacted under the KMT’s time in power, Lee said, referring to a cross-strait free-trade deal signed in 2010.
If a cross-strait trade war breaks out, the DPP administration must respond instead of shifting the burden onto the public, he added.
The actions of the Chinese Communist Party must be condemned as unbefitting China and Chinese culture, KMT Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) said.
Beijing’s military exercises would only drive the two sides further apart, making the DPP’s anti-China rhetoric more palatable, he added.
Although they reached a record high earlier in the week, cyberattacks continued into the weekend.
The live broadcast on Formosa Television News’ Web site was briefly taken over on Saturday evening by messages in simplified characters declaring China’s sovereignty over Taiwan, with the patriotic song My People, My Country (我和我的祖國) playing in the background.
The feed returned to normal after two minutes.
On Sunday, the Web pages for National Taiwan University’s Office of Academic Affairs and Office of Research and Development were changed to display the message: “The world only has one China” in simplified characters.
The university said the pages have been taken down as it works to fix the issue.
They were still inaccessible as of last night.
Additional reporting by Lin Nan-ku and Yang Mien-chieh
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS