TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan said on Wednesday hacking groups linked to the Chinese government attacked at least 10 government agencies and about 6,000 e-mail accounts of government officials in an “infiltration” to steal important data.
Liu Chia-zung, Deputy Director of the Cyber Security Office of the Taiwan Investigation Bureau, speaks at a news conference in Taipei, Taiwan on August 19, 2020. REUTERS / Yimou Lee
Democratic Taiwan has called on its people to be vigilant for what officials call “widespread infiltration” from China, from media campaigns backed by Beijing in cyberattacks, against the island that China considers its territory.
“Chinese hacking groups have been infiltrating government agencies and their information service providers for a long time,” said Liu Chia-zung, Taiwan’s Deputy Director of the Cyber Security Investigation Office.
“They were aiming to obtain important government documents and data,” Liu told reporters. “Some government data may be leaking. This has posed a major threat. ”
The attacks, which began in early 2018, targeted at least 10 government agencies and the email accounts of some 6,000 officials, Liu’s office said, adding that it could not identify what data was stolen if the hackers had hidden their trail.
Among those attacked and infiltrated by two Chinese hacking groups were at least four Taiwanese tech companies that had provided information services to the government, the bureau said.
China’s Office of Taiwan Affairs did not respond to a request for comment. The Chinese government regularly denies involvement in hacking and says it punishes those who do it.
Liu said Taiwan believed the two hacking groups involved, Blacktech and Taidoor, were backed by the Chinese Communist Party. They fixed loopholes in the systems provided by Taiwan’s information service providers, he said.
Government agencies need to increase the control of their providers, Liu said.
He said his office was investigating service chains to see if any companies from Taiwan had worked with the Chinese hackers.
News about the hacking comes at a time of heightened tensions between the island and China.
China has suspended its military activity near Taiwan and has never rejected the use of force to bring it under its control.
Report by Yimou Lee; Additional report by Beijing Newsroom; Edited by Robert Birsel
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