Taiwanese Police Give Cyber-security Quiz Winners Infected Devices

Taiwan's national police agency said 54 of the flash drives it gave out at an event highlighting a government's cybercrime crackdown contained malware. From a report: The virus, which can steal personal data and has been linked to fraud, was added inadvertently, it said. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) apologised for the error and blamed the mishap on a third-party contractor. It said 20 of the drives had been recovered. Around 250 flash drives were given out at the expo, which was hosted by Taiwan's Presidential Office from 11-15 December and aimed to highlight the government's determination to crack down on cybercrime.

Yeah

[nospam007]

"The virus, which can steal personal data and has been linked to fraud, was added inadvertently, "

They always say that.

Re:Yeah

[hey!]

No, if you refuse the infected device you receive immunity for the next round.

You see, in the game of cybersecurity nobody, technically speaking, "wins". The object of the game isn't to win, it's to play indefinitely while accumulating the fewest possible losses.

Who is...

[Anonymous Coward]

watching the watchers?

This looks more like the CIB wanted to investigate people who were knowledgeable than just an accident

In related news...

[swm]

firehouse burns down.

Well well

[volodymyrbiryuk]

The quiz winners weren't so smart after all if they accepted electronic devices from a police agency.

Re:Well well

[TheRaven64]

We'll always accept them. We have a couple of machines specifically set up for this kind of thing, one with a USB analyser to look for low-level attacks and a RPi to look for software attacks. It's always interesting to see what you get on a free USB stick (police agency or otherwise).

Final challenge

[Translation Error]

It was the secret final challenge. To win it, people had to refuse the offered flash drives.

Of course not...

[Anonymous Coward]

To win it they had to repurpose the malware on the flash drive to point to THEIR servers, and then drop it back in the Taiwanese Police's parking lot to be picked up by an unwitting officer, whereup plugging it into his computer the Quiz Winner is given access to government databases they can use to thwart their rivals, or nosy police officers getting a bit too close to convicting them :)

Surely...

[Arab]

Surely this was just part of the test?

smell the coffee

[AndyKron]

This has GOT to be a wake up call, people. WAKE THE FUCK UP!

Re:

[skovnymfe]

Coffee? There's no coffee where these people are going.

Re:

[SScorpio]

Hey now, he just grew this epic beard. Nobody should have been able to recognize him.

We have met the enemy ...

[PPH]

.... and he is us.

- Walt Kelly

Re:

[Stormwatch]

It's Taiwan, the LEGITIMATE China. Not the fake commie one.

Re:

[Wulf2k]

Way to play into their hands and place the surveillance device directly into a cantenna.

This is amusing

[kilodelta]

Years ago I had worked for the RI Sec. of State's office. It was housed in the sub-basement of the RI State House. We used to always think of ways to test information security - like getting a few USB sticks and printing the state seal on them and scattering them in the parking lots.

But of course cops being cops - they would pass out infected USB sticks to info-sec quiz winners.