Taiwan launches world's first free public malware database
Taiwan launched this week the world's first public database of malware—the equivalent of a cyber rogues' gallery—to boost public awareness against information security threats.
A report by Taiwan's Central News Agency said the public database was launched Thursday by the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC).
"This is the world's first malware knowledge base open to the public for free," said Tsai I-lang, a research associate at the NCHC.
Businesses, academics, and ordinary citizens can apply for access to the database from http://owl.nchc.org.tw, the CNA report said.
According to Tsai, the database presently lists 200,000 types of malicious software, along with information on how to remove more than 3,000 types of computer viruses.
He noted Taiwan is a frequent target of malware attacks, registering some 3.4 million attacks daily.
NCHC is a part of the National Applied Research Laboratories. It said the database is the first to be made available for free.
Tsai said the NCHC started work on the malware database in 2010, together the Ministry of Education and 20 universities.
On the other hand, the database has 6,000 decoy IP addresses that are monitored all day to detect and identify attacks.
Critical job
The CNA said Taiwan deems keeping computers and their data safe a critical task amid malware and cyber-criminal attacks.
Tsai noted a malware attack that hit a central records management system in July hit more than 7,000 government offices.
Last May, the fatal shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman following an encounter with Philippine authorities triggered an exchange of cyberattacks between pro-Taiwan and pro-Philippine groups. — VC, GMA News