Premier Lin Chuan highlighted how important information security is to the Taiwan government at today's 2016 HITCON Capture the Flag (HITCON CTF) hacking competition, a gathering of top international hackers and cybersecurity experts. The premier encouraged foreign participants to choose Taiwan as a base of operations for exchanges or startups, and form solid, stable partnerships with the government, businesses and hacker communities here.
Advances in information and communications technology have not only transformed modern lifestyles, but have also changed the nation's industrial and social development and even the way the government operates, the premier said. The new administration thus proposed its "DIGI+" plan, or Digital Nation and Innovative Economic Development Plan (2017-2025), to expand Taiwan's digital economy, ensure citizens' basic rights to broadband internet access, raise Taiwan's standing in the global information sector, and build an internet society where all are equal, said Premier Lin.
In today's digital economy, information security is critical to national security, the premier continued. This past August, the Executive Yuan established the Department of Cyber Security to strengthen the information security systems of government agencies and critical infrastructure, promote the cybersecurity industry, and improve the quality and quantity of data security professionals in Taiwan.
The 2016 HITCON CTF event is an international hacking contest jointly organized by the Hacks in Taiwan Association and the Industrial Technology Research Institute, with support from the Industrial Development Bureau. As many as 3,000 hackers on 1,024 teams from more than 80 countries participated in preliminary contests from October 8 through 10, while winners from three seeded team competitions—Trend Micro CTF 2016, the Ministry of Education's AIS3 CTF 2016, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Smart Grid Hacking Competition—qualified directly for the finals.
For the second time, this year's HITCON CTF served as a seeding competition for the world's largest hacking competition, DEF CON CTF, so competition winner Cykorkinesis of Korea will advance directly to the 2017 DEF CON event in Las Vegas.