TWO COMPUTER FAILURES DISRUPT SERVICE ISLAND WIDE
Taipei, Aug. 23 (CNA) The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) entire computer system shut down on Monday, leaving MOEA officials with no clues as to why the failure occurred.
The MOEA's mainframe computer crashed suddenly and unexpectedly on Monday morning, hampering the customer services provided by MOEA's Commerce Department.
Although the computer malfunction was corrected by noon, it was not until that evening that specialists at the MOEA Computer Center were able to determine that the crash was the result of a hacker who infiltrated the system via the ministry's website.
Also on Monday, 1,000 automatic teller machines (ATM) in post offices islandwide were paralyzed, preventing customers from withdrawing money.
Postal authorities blamed the shut down on the improper installation of a new-generation ATM system which is replacing the existing one.
Postal authorities reacted to the failure by instructing an immediate resumption of the old ATM system. The authorities said the existing system will remain in operation until the new ATM system is proven to be reliable. (By Deborah Kuo)
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