The Ministry of National Defense yesterday pledged to look into the possibility of developing phones that can be remotely wiped, after a cellphone allegedly belonging to a former soldier in the army’s 137th Infantry Brigade was bought secondhand in China.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Puma Shen (沈伯洋) and Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday highlighted the news of a Chinese person sharing on the Internet the contents of his newly purchased secondhand phone, including a picture of the 137th Infantry Brigade, Line groups and chat history, Taiwanese soldiers’ names and contacts of people serving in the 8th Army Corps.
The ministry had implemented mobile device management (MDM) systems, preventing users from taking pictures with the phone, but the issue of documents being accessible remains, Shen said.
Photo: Spencer Platt, Getty Images via AFP
Shen asked whether defense ministry-issued phones could have a remote data wipe function that could be used if the phone is detected in China.
The Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Communications, Electronics Information Lieutenant General Teng En-lien (鄧恩憐) said that they would attempt to foster such capabilities.
The defense ministry is monitoring information on the Internet around the clock and has systems in place to prevent data from being uploaded from the phone to cloud servers, Teng said.
The ministry would talk with experts regarding initiating data wipes remotely on the phone, Teng added.
Lin asked whether the incident constituted a leak of classified military information and what measures the ministry has in place or is mulling to implement to prevent such incidents.
Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) confirmed that the phone belonged to a soldier, surnamed Wu (吳), before he was discharged from the military.
The phone’s Bluetooth location tracking capabilities, and photo and video-taking abilities were limited by the MDM system, Koo said, adding that photos on the device had all been approved by Wu’s superiors.
There is no concern of leaked classified secrets, he said.
Lin said that while that seemed to be a singular incident, the ministry must adopt measures to prevent similar occurrences in the future. She also called on the ministry to ensure that its MDM systems can more effectively deter data leaks.
The ministry must find or develop the capability to keep its MDM systems current, she said.
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