Fighting a Digital Blockade: View from Taiwan
Herming Chiueh, Jason Vogt, Frank Smith
DEF CON 33 · Day 1 · Main Stage
This talk, "Fighting a Digital Blockade: View from Taiwan," delves into the critical challenges Taiwan faces in maintaining digital connectivity and resilience in the event of a conflict with the People's Republic of China. Presented by Jason Vogt, an Assistant Professor at the US Naval War College, and Josh Ryder, former Deputy Principal Cyber Adviser for the Navy, the discussion outlines the findings of the Taiwan Resilience Project by the Cyber Innovation Policy Institute. The project explores strategies for enhancing Taiwan's critical infrastructure cybersecurity and overall resilience against potential digital isolation, drawing crucial distinctions from the conflict in Ukraine.
AI review
A competent strategic/threat briefing on Taiwan's digital resilience problem — grounded in real research and war-gaming work from credible practitioners — but it operates at a policy altitude that produces familiar conclusions rather than hard-to-get signal. The speakers have genuine credentials and the Taiwan-vs-Ukraine comparative framing is the right lens, but most of the substance (cables are fragile, Huawei gear is a risk, LEO sats are good, mesh networks help, stockpile transformers) is stuff a well-read CISO or defense analyst already knows.