Taiwan accuses Chinese hackers of targeting its citizens’ data
Taiwan accused Chinese hackers of infiltrating government agencies in an effort to glean citizens’ sensitive information, part of ongoing attempts to influence the democratic society.
Groups, likely backed by Beijing, infiltrated the systems of Taiwanese companies that provide information services to government bodies, the deputy director of the Taiwan Investigation Bureau’s cybersecurity unit, Liu Chia-zung, said at a briefing in Taipei on Wednesday. The attackers were after government information and citizens’ personal data and have been making these efforts “for a long time’, Liu said.
He identified four main groups of hackers, Blacktech, Taidoor, MustangPanda and APT40. While they had managed to gain access to government systems, Liu said investigators had been unable to identify what data has been stolen, other than a leak of some 6,000 government emails in one case, as the hackers had covered their tracks.