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EDITORIAL: Modern
warfare in the Internet age
The government has issued an ultimatum to the Philippines over the fatal
shooting of Hung Shih-cheng (¬x¥Û¦¨), a crewmember of the Kuang Ta Hsing No. 28, by
personnel aboard a Philippine Coast Guard vessel, demanding an apology and
compensation within 72 hours. The Coast Guard Administration and Ministry of
National Defense have deployed armed ships to protect Taiwanese fishermen in the
area. While there are clearly tensions between Taiwan and the Philippines,
relations are still at the stage of diplomatic jostling ¡X the two sides are
engaged in a game of chicken.
However, another war is being waged online as Taiwanese netizens vent their fury
over the incident. While the government has been reticent in its response, the
public has been quick to express anger. This has been evidenced by the deluge of
comments left by Taiwanese on the Facebook page of the Philippine Coast Guard
and messages posted on international Web sites denouncing the behavior of the
Philippine government.
The more radical among these netizens targeted official Web sites of the
Philippines, displacing announcements on central and local government sites or
overloading servers to force prolonged suspension of services. The Philippine
government has been obliged to adopt emergency measures and has put in place
more stringent identification requirements to prevent further cyberattacks.
Not that the cyberwar has been one-sided: Hackers using IP addresses in the
Philippines have launched attacks on the official Web sites of the Presidential
Office, the Coast Guard Administration, the defense ministry and the Ministry of
Economic Affairs, as well as those of the Taipei City Government and the Greater
Tainan Government. Some private companies¡¦ sites were also targeted. The
government has said it has asked Manila to deal with these IP addresses, and
that if it fails to comply it will consider blocking all Philippine IP
addresses.
Nor has the war been confined to people from Taiwan and the Philippines; hackers
from China have also entered the fray, launching attacks on Philippine
government Web sites. Whereas Taiwanese cyberattacks have been predominantly
denial-of-service attempts, the Chinese cyberattacks have been more direct and
concerted. Chinese cyberattacks on the Philippine government¡¦s Web site replaced
the Philippine national flag with the People¡¦s Republic of China (PRC) flag and
issued warnings to Manila.
The situation is still unfolding, but already it has demonstrated a valuable
lesson: In modern warfare, the public can react more quickly than governments,
and unofficial online wars have an edge over official protests. Of course, the
government is not going openly launch cyberattacks, but it must arm itself
against such attacks from elsewhere.
If the government¡¦s computers are hacked, data and control can become
compromised, potentially making the nation more vulnerable should conventional
warfare break out. China has established its own cyberforces. It has been
reported that a large number of overseas news agencies and governments have
suffered cyberattacks that have been traced to a building in Shanghai, where it
is suspected that a secret military cyberunit is at work.
Taiwan¡¦s own readiness for cyberwarfare is still in a fledgling state, and we
are woefully behind in basic defenses for blocking cyberattacks, erecting
effective firewalls and preventing government Web sites, like that of the
Presidential Office, from being hacked.
Taiwan boasts a world-class information technology industry; we are leaders in
software and hardware, and possess the necessary conditions for establishing
effective cybersecurity capabilities. When this incident with the Philippines
has passed, defense authorities must elevate cyberwarfare to the top of their
list of priorities.
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