Taiwan: Former paramedic sells data from control center to mortician
A former paramedic in Taiwan sold emergency call data to morticians for years so they could reach the scene of an accident faster. The investigation is ongoing.
(Image: Daniel Jedzura/Shutterstock.com)
A former paramedic has been arrested in Taiwan for allegedly infiltrating the Kaohsiung Fire Department's emergency call system and selling sensitive emergency data to funeral homes in real time. According to the indictment, the 30-year-old man with the surname Pan had access to response times, locations and GPS data to give four funeral companies a strategic advantage. Golem first reported that.
“Pan set up his own cloud-based platform and used his cell phone to operate a data server that provided real-time information to funeral homes,” the Taipei Times said. This enabled the morticians to arrive at the scene faster than their competitors – sometimes even before the emergency services. In return, Pan collected several thousand to ten thousand Taiwan dollars a month, the equivalent of around 100 to over 1,000 euros.
The incident only came to light in August 2023 after indications of conspicuous access to the command and control system, as reported by the Taipei Times. The data analysis revealed that Pan had built its own cloud system since 2022, which collected real-time information from 21 cities and counties – including information on the incident and GPS coordinates. As a result, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Kaohsiung Fire Department tried to minimize the amount of publicly available data and implement strict controls, but this was not enough.
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30 million accesses per year
The authorities estimate that up to 30 million unauthorized accesses to the system were registered each year, which posed considerable risks to data security and the public interest. After months of analysis by the Ministry of Justice, Pan and other suspects, including IT specialists from the funeral homes, were arrested. Pan confessed to the crime, and several employees of the companies involved were also charged. The investigation is ongoing.
(mack)
