Feb 6 — In Taiwan, lawmakers have called for the creation of an independent agency that will be responsible for protecting personal information from large-scale data leaks.
The call follows a vehicle service provider’s data breach that resulted in the exposure of data belonging to 140,000 customers. It also follows on the heels of reports pertaining to an airlines-based data leak, a data leak of national health insurance information, and a data leak that included household registration information.
Democratic Progressive Party leaders are holding news conferences that urge immediate action on the issue.
Responsibility
The greatest obstacle to improved data management lies in determining who is responsible for data protection. Says Legislator Lai Pin-yu, given that different agencies are responsible for maintaining different aspects of data security, agencies have ended up “passing the buck”.
In Taiwan, laws governing data security need revision. Lai believes that the government needs to establish an independent unit responsible for protecting data security. A legislative body should consult other nations’ laws and investigate the necessity of data collection by companies, she says.
Legislator Liu Shih-fang commented that data leaks are a “hotbed” for fraud. In a one year period, reports of fraud stemming from online merchants (bookstores, specifically) multiplied by four-fold, from 940 to 3,773, Liu stated. Investment and installment payment fraud has also increased.
More information
Following the latest set of data breaches affecting Taiwanese citizens, no one assumed responsibility, nor has anyone officially been notified of a breach by a government agency.
Learn more here. For related coverage, please see CyberTalk.org’s insights into how to create a data collection policy.
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