Government websites of Taiwan experience more than 20 million cyber-attacks every month, mostly from China, reported CNA on April 5th. It seems that China is trying to assert its dominance in more than just the real world – cyber-attacks are becoming more common between these two conflicting countries.
The cyber-attacks this year targeted at least 10 government agencies and the email accounts of around 6,000 officials, reported the office of deputy director of the Taiwan Investigation Bureau’s Cyber Security Investigation Office, Liu Chia-zung. The office added that they have not been able to identify what data has been stolen as the hackers concealed their tracks skillfully.
According to Chien Hung-wei, Director of Executive Yuan’s Department of Cyber Security, Taiwan is exposed to 20 million to 40 million hacking activities into its public sector per month. Despite the fact that the online attacks are often camouflaged, Chien believes they are largely conducted by Chinese perpetrators, judging from analyses of the characteristics and types of the offensive maneuvers. “It is part of a higher-level vision by [Chinese president] Xi Jinping to build China into a cyber superpower,” Chein reported that it is part of a higher-level plan by the Chinese president to turn China into a cyber leader.
Most of the cyber-attacks are registered as 1st to 2nd grade minor events. These mostly involve website content changes. However, 12 cases were identified as more serious 3rd grade cyber security events, such as disruption of important service systems and data breach. One example of this is unauthorized access to email accounts of the Bureau of Consular Affairs using password cracking. This resulted in leaked personal data regarding oversea travel.
One countermeasure the Department of Cyber Security has put together is forming a task force under the name of “Cybersecurity Service Team”. This team began its operations in April, and their most important tasks consist of assistance in information security issues and staff training. Even if a country has amazing cyber-defense, which is a case for Taiwan, it is near to impossible to deal with the huge number of cyber-attacks they face every day.