Case Study
Having moved through the pivotal early years of digital transformation and cloud data migration, the pace of change continues to accelerate, and new technologies keep emerging. Today, Taiwan enterprises face an entirely new crisis: cybersecurity, one with a broader, deeper, and more challenging impact than ever before, with Taiwan standing out as one of the regions most affected globally.
Pictured left: MAYO CEO Shih-Ping Chien. Pictured right: Netron Information Technology CEO Aries Lee.
In October 2022, Taiwan experienced its first-ever nationwide data breach, exposing 23 million records of personal data that were subsequently leaked and sold. Before 2023 was even half over, one major enterprise after another had already been hit by data breach scandals.
“For most foreign enterprises today, no matter how well a system performs, if it fails security review, they will not even give it a second look,” said Shih-Ping Chien, CEO of MAYO, a leading HR systems brand. MAYO currently serves more than 1,300 clients, including numerous listed companies, multinational groups, foreign enterprises, and several Fortune Global 500 companies.
According to an IMPERVA cloud services report, Taiwan ranks as the second most targeted country globally for network-layer DDoS attacks, behind only the United States. These attacks have broken new records across traffic volume, frequency, and complexity, with the financial, public relations, and entertainment sectors hit hardest.
MAYO CEO Shih-Ping Chien notes that professional cloud security services will become a baseline requirement for every enterprise going forward.
MAYO Turns to Professional Cloud Solutions to Earn Client Trust
Aries Lee, CEO of Netron Information Technology, a leading brand in enterprise cloud security in Taiwan, notes that attacks targeting Taiwan have grown sharply since last year. In 2022 alone, Netron Information Technology added more than 600 new client contracts, bringing the two-year total to roughly 1,650 new clients, many of them in the financial and manufacturing sectors. “This growth trend is unmistakable. Last year alone, we helped clients withstand 900,000 attacks.”
This sharp rise is closely tied to the wave of digital transformation driven by the pandemic. COVID-19 pushed many enterprises to adopt cloud services, giving employees the convenience of cloud-based clock-in, leave requests, and approvals. As security awareness has grown, cloud-based HR systems, which hold sensitive data such as employee compensation and contact information, have become increasingly critical. This is why MAYO chose to partner with Netron Information Technology to implement IMPERVA, a world-class cybersecurity firewall service, strengthening protection and monitoring across multiple layers of data, becoming one of the key factors behind MAYO ability to win over a broad base of clients.
Netron Information Technology CEO Aries Lee notes that last year alone, the company helped clients withstand 900,000 attacks.
The IMPERVA report further shows that application-layer DDoS attack volume rose 82% compared to 2021, while attacks targeting the global financial services sector climbed 121%. As many as 46% of enterprises that have been attacked once go on to face repeat attacks. As attacks grow more intense, how can Taiwan enterprises prepare to stay steady in an increasingly high-risk environment?
MAYO Adopted IMPERVA Cloud Services and Invested Heavily in Employee Training
At the end of 2021, Taiwan financial regulator amended its rules, requiring listed companies to appoint a chief information security officer and establish a dedicated security unit by the end of 2022 to 2023. At the time, industry estimates suggested the new regulation would create a shortfall of more than 20,000 security professionals across Taiwan industries. It was only after the policy took effect that the scale of Taiwan security talent gap became impossible to ignore. Bringing in outside support and partnering with cloud security providers has become essential for enterprises facing a shortage of in-house security talent, or an internal team that cannot respond around the clock.
Citing the IMPERVA report, Lee notes that 70% of attacks last no more than 15 minutes and are typically DDoS attacks. Many large international enterprises rely on service-oriented architectures (SOA) that take up to 15 minutes to activate defenses, but with the IMPERVA service implemented by Netron Information Technology, MAYO system can respond in just 3 seconds.
Chien also stresses the importance of internal employee education and training. At MAYO, employees undergo training every quarter to ensure data is never exposed through improper access. “We have strict rules and access controls in place, so employees at different levels can only reach the data relevant to their role. We also run regular vulnerability scans and assessments, and bring in professional third-party security firms to carry out independent security testing.”
Netron Information Technology Helps Enterprises Identify What Counts as Sensitive Data and How to Store It
For many business leaders, adopting cloud services still requires overcoming a significant mental hurdle. For example, HR systems that used to be built and managed in-house are now shifting to cloud-based solutions. “I have noticed that when people move their data to the cloud, a lot of people in Taiwan tend to assume it is inherently risky,” Chien observes. In his experience, smaller enterprises tend to underinvest in security, while larger enterprises place far greater emphasis on it.
In addition, many enterprises still have a limited understanding of data security and personal data protection. The IMPERVA report found that 54% of enterprises still do not know where their sensitive data is stored, and 65% say they have so much data that they are unable to properly classify or make use of it. Without the ability to identify sensitive information and monitor access behavior, enterprises cannot detect potential security vulnerabilities, let alone get ahead of risk before it becomes a problem.
Beyond that, the severity, volume, and storage method of sensitive data all need to be assessed together. “The security services Netron Information Technology provides go beyond defending against external attacks, they also include internal auditing and classification, helping identify exactly where sensitive data resides, and clearly distinguishing what can and cannot be made public.” Netron Information Technology offers fully managed services covering both internal and external cloud data, and can also support more specialized industries where the data being accessed is largely unstructured, such as video and image files.
Chien attributes MAYO ability to stand out among HR systems providers to two factors: its rigorous internal security protocols and regular external audits, and its partnership with Netron Information Technology to implement the IMPERVA cloud firewall. At a time when most traditional Taiwan manufacturing and legacy businesses still lack clear security standards, delivering best-in-class monitoring and protection has made MAYO the partner of choice for many leading enterprises.
How Do Top Global Enterprises Approach This?
Chien points to a large multinational management consulting firm as an example. “When it comes to security, they know exactly what they need. When they actually went looking for a solution, they found that few providers in Taiwan met their parent company standards, so they partnered directly with us.” Because large multinational and foreign enterprise clients typically operate under mature, well-defined procurement standards, and because cloud-based solutions have become the default choice, functionality alone is not enough compared to other small and mid-sized HR systems providers in Taiwan; what matters even more is passing security review by both the client and its overseas headquarters.
Chien adds that cloud security services will only become more widespread going forward, eventually becoming standard equipment for every enterprise. In HR specifically, beyond employee contact information and compensation data, systems often also hold personal data related to employees dependents, all of which represent valuable assets that enterprises must never allow to be exposed. That is before even considering the far broader scope of data handled in the insurance and financial sectors, which demands even greater oversight from business leaders. “This is an area that will only receive more attention going forward.”
Taiwan current regulatory framework is primarily governed by the Personal Data Protection Act, but Chien notes that this represents only the baseline for MAYO approach to security. Beyond earning ISO 27001 certification, there is still a great deal more to accomplish. “Our internal security standards always need to exceed what our clients require, that is the only way to truly meet their needs.”
Many of these challenges have emerged naturally as the times have evolved, arising from the ongoing process of enterprise transformation, and require skilled professionals, dedicated teams, or capable outside partners to solve. Lee concludes that beyond preparing internally, bringing in new talent, and investing in training, enterprises need to partner with professional cloud service brands and teams to respond quickly to emerging security risks, so that after weathering the difficulties of the pandemic, they can now operate with confidence and stability, and continue building on their success.
Netron Information Technology began as a cybersecurity services provider and has since grown into a full-service cloud consulting company, offering end-to-end cloud consulting and 24/7 multilingual professional support. Netron Information Technology became an AWS Advanced Partner within just 4 months and holds AWS certifications in MSP, MSSP, Migration, and Generative AI Competency. The company represents over 20 international brands and serves nearly 2,000 clients with tailored, customized solutions.
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