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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Defense ministry confirms internal computer breach
KINMEN BREACH: The Communications Development Office officer was reportedly looking for information to help with the admissions test for a doctoral program
By Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter
The computer network of a cyberintelligence agency of the Ministry of National Defense （MND） was breached in April, allegedly by an agency officer who was an exchange student in China, but the ministry yesterday said that there was no leak of confidential data.
The Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday reported that a lieutenant, surnamed Ku （古）, in the Communications Development Office accessed the military network for six hours on April 3, gaining access to sensitive data without being detected.
The agency, which has more than 30 offices nationwide, specializes in gathering cyberintelligence and is responsible for monitoring China’s intelligence activities.
Ku reportedly smuggled a flash drive and a laptop into the agency’s office on Kinmen. She was in the military network for four hours before accessing the agency’s private network, where more sensitive data is stored, for two hours, downloading material onto the flash drive and the laptop, the newspaper reported.
Ku was reportedly stopped by security guards as she was leaving the base, the newspaper said, leading authorities to search her dormitory, where the laptop and flash drive were found.
The newspaper cited Ku as saying that she accessed the military network because she wanted information to help with the admissions test to a doctoral program she was applying to, and accessed the office’s private network because she could not find information she wanted in the military network.
The ministry confirmed the security breach.
Communications Development Office Political Warfare Division Director Huang Yi-hsiu （黃一修） said Lu did not access any sensitive data, but her actions violated network security regulations.
“What Ku retrieved from the database was public information, including 26 academic papers and international political economic analyses that might be relevant to her graduate study,” he said.
“The system’s alert was immediately triggered after Lu plugged in the flash drive and the office launched an investigation instantly,” Huang said.
Lu was ordered to return to Taiwan proper for investigation and take a lie-detector test, Huang said, adding that she had been transferred to administrative duties and suspended from handling sensitive information.
The lie-detector test showed that Ku did not lie about her actions and had not engaged in espionage, he said.
Before joining the military in 2013, Lu studied at Nanjing University in China for about six months under a student exchange program, Huang said.
The agency conducted a background check on Lu before recruiting her and there was nothing out of the ordinary in her performance, he said.
Lu was originally to be given a major demerit, but a disciplinary review board on July 18 decided that she should receive two major demerits and be discharged.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
