Taiwan’s unique position as a cyber threat hotspot presents an opportunity to galvanize its domestic cybersecurity industry.
The News Lens
Date: 2018/07/26
By: Philip Hsu
本圖僅為情境圖，並非這次跨國詐騙集團照片。Photo credit: Pixabay CC0
On May 11, Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan passed the Cybersecurity Management Law, Taiwan’s first national cybersecurity law (iThome, May 22). This law, which mandates cybersecurity requirements for Taiwan’s government agencies and operators of critical infrastructures, represents the latest initiative in the Tsai administration’s push for cybersecurity under the policy “Cyber Security is National Security.” As part of this push, the administration is also working to develop Taiwan’s indigenous cybersecurity industry through a policy of “cyber autonomy” (資安自主).
The cyber threats to the island are substantial. Taiwan has been ranked as one of the top targets of advanced cyber attacks in the world, mainly from state-initiated or state sponsored Advanced Persistent Threats, or APTs (FireEye, Jan. 14, 2014). These APTs conduct cyber espionage against government agencies and corporate entities in Taiwan, most of which can be traced back to China. In April, the Department of Cybersecurity of Taiwan’s Executive Yuan revealed that China’s “internet army” accounted for 288 successful attacks against Taiwan’s government agencies in 2017 (Liberty Times, April 5). Last March, the Director of Taiwan’s National Security Agency admitted to the Legislative Yuan that China’s cyber penetration of Taiwan’s networks is “worse than before” (Liberty Times, March 9, 2017).
Cyber autonomy and national security
Given this backdrop, it may come as no surprise that Taiwan’s push to support its cybersecurity industry through cyber autonomy has a national security bent. In one sense, the word autonomy (自主) is connected to Taiwan’s ongoing efforts at “defense self-reliance” (國防自主) to reduce the island’s reliance on foreign arms. Such efforts to indigenously design and build military jets, missiles, and armored vehicles have been ongoing for decades, but the Tsai administration has made self-reliance a central component of its defense policy, most notably including Taiwan’s new plans to deploy indigenously developed attack submarines. [FULL STORY]
