2020/08/24
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) issued a press release that "the Armed Forces published a bidding announcement for the use of free and private electronic mailboxes, which is reckoned to have security concerns for information" (August 24, 2020
In response to media reports that "the Armed Forces published a bidding announcement for the use of free and private electronic mailboxes, which is reckoned to have security concerns for information," the MND explained the story today (24) as follows:
1. In accordance with the "Government Procurement Announcement and Bulletin Issuance Regulations", any authority must provide a person of contact, contact phone number, fax number, and e-mail mailbox when sponsoring tender procurement in order to facilitate feedback from and use by the general public. The mailbox is only used to accept opinions from vendors suppliers and does not involve any confidential information.
2. The content printed by the MND in government procurement announcements is public and open information. Since security concerns are still present for divisions affiliated with the MND when they use Gmail, Hotmail, and other free mailboxes, the affiliated procurement division has now been requested to reapply for an electronic business mailbox of the Armed Forces at once, which is to be used for business use with external contacts.
3. The MND has always attached great importance to the task of information security and will strictly request its affiliated authorities that all operations for their external official communications be conducted with business e-mail by the MND only to ensure national security and prevent dangerous loopholes.