By Liu Yung-yun and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Prosecutors yesterday searched 10 locations and questioned four people over allegations that Chinese-developed software was repackaged and marketed as Taiwanese for use by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Three companies allegedly disguised Chinese-developed endpoint security management software as a Taiwanese product to secure more than NT$20 million (US$627,058) in ministry procurement contracts over three years, prosecutors said.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office directed the searches and questioning as part of an investigation into suspected violations of the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法).
A sign at the main entrance of the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office is pictured in an undated photograph.
Photo: Wu Sheng-ju, Taipei Times
The software, called IP-guard, was developed by Chinese company Guangzhou Yixin Technology (廣州溢信科技), investigators said.
A person associated with Information Security Technology Corp (安和科技), surnamed Lu (呂), allegedly arranged for the software to be repackaged through other companies, investigators said.
Ewill Technology (鎰威科技) allegedly modified the user interface, allowing a product with Chinese technological origins to be marketed as Taiwanese-developed, they said.
Kunyou Technology (坤侑科技) allegedly tendered the software for ministry information technology (IT) asset management software contracts from 2023 to last year, winning more than NT$20 million in contracts over the three years, prosecutors said.
Potential uses of the software include inventorying computer equipment, monitoring software usage and controlling access to data.
The issue came to light in December last year, when the ministry discovered irregularities during a routine inspection of its information systems.
The software was installed on computers at the ministry’s overseas missions for internal IT asset management.
Some of the software’s code was reported to be linked to a Chinese company, raising suspicions that the product supplied differed from the Taiwanese-developed software described in the bid. The ministry subsequently notified the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau.
The bureau’s New Taipei City Field Division traced the software’s development, modification and bidding processes to clarify the relationships between the three Taiwanese companies and Guangzhou Yixin.
As of press time last night, Lu; two people associated with Kunyou, surnamed Chiang (江) and Chan (詹); and a person associated with Ewill, surnamed Wu (吳), were being questioned.