The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday launched a comprehensive cybersecurity initiative to patch Internet vulnerabilities ahead of next month’s annual Han Kuang training exercises.
Entities under the ministry are required to patch known vulnerabilities and report any suspicious Internet activity in their networks over the first four days of the 11-day initiative, starting today, the General Staff Headquarters said in a communique obtained by the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper).
Each entity is to organize a task force to surveil their cybersecurity environment in the three days following the implementation of the initial patches, it said.
Photo: Reuters
Any new suspicious activity or vulnerabilities that the task forces detect should be reported, tracked and rectified in the final four days of the initiative, the headquarters said.
Additionally, organizations under the ministry are to ensure that all mandatory software updates have been applied, backups have been made, and the password protection or encryption of sensitive information has been properly implemented, it said.
Ministry Web sites should be monitored for signs of “digital vandalism,” denial of service attacks or other hacks that should be addressed, it said.
The initiative comes two days after the Criminal Investigation Bureau’s Web site experienced an outage. The incident triggered media concern over the government’s data security, although a bureau spokesperson later said the incident was caused by hardware failure and not an attack.
Separately, National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) is today scheduled to appear before lawmakers in a hearing of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
Legislators requested his presence to clarify issues concerning the government’s proposed amendments to the Communication Security and Surveillance Act (通訊保障及監察法), sources said.
Lawmakers on the committee were unable to agree on several provisions of the bill regarding the government’s power to surveil telecom metadata and use it in criminal prosecutions, they said.
Officials from the National Communications Commission and Chunghwa Telecom were also asked to attend the hearing today, sources said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS