Taiwan's NICS and Microsoft Sign MOU to Bolster Cybersecurity and Digital Resilience

(Central News Agency, Reporter Zhao Minya, Taipei, 8th) Taiwan's National Institute of Cyber Security (NICS) and Microsoft Taiwan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today. NICS Director Lin Ying-ta stated that both parties will focus on cybersecurity threat intelligence, leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to strengthen security defenses and the resilience of critical infrastructure, and enhancing Zero Trust architecture to bolster Taiwan's cybersecurity readiness and digital resilience.

The MOU signing ceremony was attended by NICS Director Lin Ying-ta and Marcus Bartley Johns, Regional Director for North Asia, Microsoft Global Public Affairs, representing the parties. Witnesses included Yang Chia-ling, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Digital Affairs; Li Yu-chieh, Advisory Committee Member of the National Security Council; Lee Te-tsai, Chairman of NICS; and Tsai Fu-long, Director of the Cybersecurity Administration.

NICS noted that according to the 2025 Microsoft Digital Defense Report, Taiwan ranks first in the Asia-Pacific region in the number of state/region-level threat activities. Facing increasingly complex and frequent cybersecurity challenges brought by AI, NICS, as a key driver of government cybersecurity capabilities, applications, and policies, will combine Microsoft's deep cybersecurity resources and global experience to deepen digital security governance.

In his address, Lin Ying-ta said that through cooperation with Microsoft, the world's most advanced threat intelligence network will be introduced to Taiwan. At the same time, AI-empowered security defense can further strengthen threat hunting, anomaly detection, recovery/failover, and enhance the security protection of critical infrastructure. Additionally, Microsoft will assist in improving the Zero Trust architecture, covering readiness assessment, baseline establishment and drills for cloud and on-premises environments.

Johns pointed out in his speech that this MOU is an important milestone in the cooperation between Taiwan and Microsoft. Cybersecurity defense cannot be done alone; it requires cross-government and cross-organizational collaboration. Especially in the AI era, AI brings not only many opportunities but also various threats, making closer cooperation and the use of AI to quickly detect security vulnerabilities and enhance defenses even more critical.

Johns stated that one of the key focuses of the cooperation is the integration of security intelligence and data. Leveraging its global presence, Microsoft collects over 100 trillion security event signals daily, while Taiwanese government agencies also possess important national security-related information. In the future, intelligence will be integrated through tools and professional capabilities to jointly enhance cybersecurity defense. He also mentioned that Microsoft is currently testing a multi-model, multi-agent security enhancement mechanism to further improve overall defense capabilities.

Yang Chia-ling said in her speech that Taiwan is a key hub in the global technology supply chain, and cybersecurity resilience has a significant impact on the overall supply chain security. Cybersecurity is one of the important tasks of the Ministry of Digital Affairs. The ministry encourages NICS to cooperate with international companies to accelerate and deepen the introduction of AI into protection systems, enhancing Taiwan's cybersecurity resilience.

NICS stated that through this cooperation, NICS and Microsoft Taiwan look forward to jointly creating a safe and trustworthy digital environment, laying a key cybersecurity foundation for Taiwan in the global digital transformation and AI era. In the future, both parties will continue to deepen cooperation, promote cybersecurity governance and digital resilience in line with international standards, and through long-term technical exchanges and sharing of practical experience, perfect the resilient architecture and forward-looking layout of the national-level cybersecurity protection system. (Editor: Pan Yi-ching) 1150608