兩岸資安專利佈局分析 -- 以網路型入侵預防系統(IPS)為例

Abstract

The rise of the Internet instigated enormous business opportunities as well as security concerns. According to reports, the Gulf War between the United States and Iraq marked the first time for human beings to involve the fourth army in combat. Information warfare unit – cyber army – blocked the network controlling system for Iraqi anti-aircraft guns through the use of viruses embedded in printers. This sabotage operation eventually allowed American Air Force to enter Iraqi sky without worry. And hence stimulated the formidable wave of information warfare around the world. Cyber armies on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have usurped intelligence and documents involving government secrets through the use of network intrusion. This study tries to combine patent knowledgebase with intrusion prevention systems to analyze the power possessed by both parties in the field of information security. The author will retrieve and parse the patent knowledgebase to plot a patent map as well as technology/efficiency matrixes, so that a systematic, orchestrated patent analysis for detection and protection systems between Taiwan and China is possible. The author found, through the analysis of efficiency matrix, that there are three different combinations of development in the development process: network detection and prevention; network detection and system prevention; system detection and prevention. By studying the three different combinations of development, it is possible to pinpoint the distinctions and vulnerabilities of both parties’ current defense, and to provide metrics so that both parties’ emphases in security can be visualized. The study found that Taiwan and China fall into the phase of technology growth in the area of intrusion prevention systems. My conclusions are: 1. The core of the roadmap of intrusion prevention systems can still be summed up by two key technologies – intrusion detection, and prevention. 2. Taiwan has more patents involving system detention and prevention, while China network detention and prevention. This indicates different focuses of development for both parties. 3. The market size in China is much bigger than in Taiwan. China also has more patent assignees. It has been able to attract five countries to apply for patents locally, while only two countries have been interested in doing the same thing in Taiwan. China also has 142 patents; more than 116 for Taiwan. 4. The United States has been the most active in its information security patent deployment in Taiwan and China. It is also the biggest foreign player in patent rights on both sides. 5. Autonomy in information security matters national security. Compared with Taiwan, China has more difficulties in achieving this target, since a major portion of such patents is in the hands of foreign companies.