Emergency management information system possibly attacked by hackers

[AnonOps]

Emergency management information system possibly attacked by hackers

2015/08/07 17:03:26

Taipei, Aug. 7 (CNA) As disaster prevention agencies around Taiwan have been vigilant against the impacts of the approaching typhoon Soudelor, the emergency management information system of the Central Emergency Operation Center was down for nearly three hours Friday, and the center could not eliminate the possibility of a hacker attack.

The Central Emergency Operation Center set up at the National Fire Agency under the Ministry of the Interior requires local governments to report to the center the local storm and rainfall situation as well as any damage to their districts through the information system.

At around 11 a.m. Friday, the system was found unstable and half an hour later, the government portal (portal.emic.gov.tw) was not accessible.

An official of the center said that they could not eliminate the possibility of a hacker attack, though it was also possible that it was a problem with the server or transmission process.

It was the first time that the system has been continuously down for so many hours, but fortunately the database was not damaged, he added.

Before the system was restored at 2:10 p.m., the center used phone, fax and email to contact emergency units around the country, according to the official.

(By C.P. Liu and Lillian Lin)