----- Original Message -----

From: iNEER

Cc: oush@mail.ncku.edu.tw ; jjmiau@mail.ncku.edu.tw ; jennie@mail.moe.gov.tw

Sent: Friday, May 28, 2004 12:33 PM

Subject: Items for Taiwan

TO: iNEER Members in Taiwan

Dear Colleagues:

(1) As you know, iCEER-2005 will be held in Tainan next year, during March 1-5, 2005. It will be supported by the National Science Council (NSC) and the Ministry of Education (MoE). The Call for Papers will be issued this summer. Many of you have been supported in your work on research and education by NSC and MoE. We would like to encourage you actively to submit papers describing your work to iCEER-2005 when you see the Call for Papers. Please help to disseminate Taiwan's achievements to the international audience during iCEER-2005. Thank you.

(2) By the same token, please also submit your papers to the 2005 iNEER Special Volume. This hardcover book will be published in time for iCEER-2005 with a leading educator and researcher in Taiwan serving as an editor. The deadline for submission of papers is July 15, 2004. Papers submitted to the iCEER and ICEE conferences are also eligible, but the Guidelines for the Special Volume must be strictly followed, as they are different from those for the conferences. Please see: http://www.ineer.org/iNEERPapers/GUIDELINES-2005.htm

(3) The following news item is for information only.

Taiwan Engineer Accused of Creating Virus Used by Chinese Hackers to Attack Gov't Systems
5/27/04 2:04PM GMT

A Taiwanese computer engineer was arrested on charges he had designed a virus-like Trojan horse that Chinese hackers found and used to attack the island's business and government systems, police said Thursday.

Wang Ping-an, 30, designed "Peep," which earlier this year allowed the attackers to steal information and retain control of infected computer systems, police said.

"He placed his program on popular hackers' Web sites and encouraged people to download it," said Lin Chieh-lung, an official from an Internet crime investigation task force. "He might have wanted only to show off his skills, but he should be aware what harm this could cause."

If convicted on charges of vandalizing public and corporate property, he could face up to five years in prison, police said.

Police said they began a probe months ago after noticing hackers had stolen confidential government data. They then discovered "Peep" was responsible for the theft of data from hundreds of Taiwanese schools, companies and government agencies. The attacks were traced back to mainland China, police said.

In recent years, fears have grown that China might enforce its claim of sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan by shutting down the island's heavily computerized society with a cyber-attack instead of a conventional invasion.

Sincerely,

iNEER Secretariat