Taiwan bombarded with cyberattacks ahead of election POLITICO
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Cybersecurity
ppCybersecurity groups link the attacks against Taiwanese critical infrastructure to China pp
Supporters cheer for the Democratic Progressive Party during an elections rally in New Taipei City Taiwan on Jan 6 Ng Han GuanAP
ppBy Maggie Miller and Joseph Gedeonpp
01112024 0500 AM EST
ppLink CopiedppTaiwan faces a deluge of cyberattacks days before a critical presidential election with experts blaming China for an unprecedented and increasingly sophisticated level of interferenceppThe Jan 13 election is the first real security test of 2024 one of the biggest years for democratic elections in history and underlines the rising cyber threat posed by ChinappGoogle Clouds cyber threat intelligence firm Mandiant warned Tuesday of a substantial volume of espionage operations by China against Taiwans government technology and critical infrastructure according to a statement from Ben Read the companys head of cyber espionage analysis While this type of targeting has occurred for years the volume over the past few months has been notableppCyberattacks designed to overwhelm and crash networks in Taiwan have reached new levels in the final quarter of 2023 spiking 3370 percent a more than thirty fold increase since the previous year according to a new
threat report from website security firm Cloudflare While the report did not directly link the attacks to China it did note that China is one of the largest sources of these types of attacksppTaiwanese Vice President Lai Chingte who is running for president has called attempted interference by China in this years election
the most serious everppAnd the attacks are getting harder to gauge due to the rise of artificial intelligencepowered content which allows cyberattacks and influence campaigns to flood the digital space at a much higher clip China a worldleader in new AI development and investment appears to wield the tech with a clear
vested interest in influencing Taiwans future and the worlds opinion on the islands sovereigntyppThe number and types of attacks China wages against Taiwan are very different from what they deploy to other nations former FBI Executive Assistant Director of Information and Technology James Turgal said in an interviewppTurgal calls the strategy an embarrassment campaign where China infiltrates a system not to steal data but to post degrading statements that make Taipeis institutions look badppYou basically manipulate and take over the website and put up antiTaiwan statements on government sites that are forwardfacing which is a type of attack you dont see against US interests he said You saw a lot of those just before Russia entered UkraineppLiu Pengyu spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC called the allegations of Chinese cyberattacks against Taiwan clearly disinformation in an emailed statement The Chinese governments position on cybersecurity is consistent and clear We firmly oppose and combat cyberattacks of any kind Liu saidppLiu added that Beijing hopes the ballot will be conducive to crossStrait peace and stabilityppThe Chinese government views Taiwan as a renegade province rather than an independent nation and tensions have reached new heights under Chinese President Xi Jinping The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs regularly declines questions on Taiwan citing the belief that Taiwan is not a foreign policy issue for China as the island belongs to the nation The ministry instead has publicly accused the US of
being a hacker empireppChinese officials during defense talks this week in Washington said China will not make any concession or compromise on the Taiwan question and asked the US to not support Taiwan independence according to a statement from Chinas defense ministryppTaiwanese officials say the threats from China have grown increasingly intense Authorities recently observed
four alleged Chinese spy balloons directly above the island for the first time and are investigating alleged sponsored trips for hundreds of politicians to China aimed at swaying the vote toward Beijing
according to ReutersppRoy Chun Lee Taiwans deputy minister of foreign affairs told POLITICO in November that Taiwans public sector sustains more than 13 million cyberattacks every month Ahead of the election he said these attacks were only increasingppEvery day there are attempts to find loopholes and backdoors in our system he saidppBecause Taiwan votes on paper ballots election equipment isnt the main concern Instead US officials and cybersecurity experts say Chinese cyberattacks have focused on behindthescenes optics to delegitimize Taiwans democratic stake in the island by weaving discord and disinformationppScott McConnell a spokesperson for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency which protects US elections against cyber threats declined to comment on any aid the agency is providing to Taiwan to defend against election threats The White House did not respond to a request for comment on its coordination with TaiwanppBut the attacks have drawn its attention President Joe Biden
reportedly warned Xi in San Francisco last year not to get involved in Taiwans electionsppI made it clear I didnt expect any interference any at all Biden said at a
press conference following the meeting Look do I trust You know I trust but verify as the old saying goesppPhelim Kine contributed to this reportppLink Copiedpp 2024 POLITICO LLCp
Cybersecurity
ppCybersecurity groups link the attacks against Taiwanese critical infrastructure to China pp
Supporters cheer for the Democratic Progressive Party during an elections rally in New Taipei City Taiwan on Jan 6 Ng Han GuanAP
ppBy Maggie Miller and Joseph Gedeonpp
01112024 0500 AM EST
ppLink CopiedppTaiwan faces a deluge of cyberattacks days before a critical presidential election with experts blaming China for an unprecedented and increasingly sophisticated level of interferenceppThe Jan 13 election is the first real security test of 2024 one of the biggest years for democratic elections in history and underlines the rising cyber threat posed by ChinappGoogle Clouds cyber threat intelligence firm Mandiant warned Tuesday of a substantial volume of espionage operations by China against Taiwans government technology and critical infrastructure according to a statement from Ben Read the companys head of cyber espionage analysis While this type of targeting has occurred for years the volume over the past few months has been notableppCyberattacks designed to overwhelm and crash networks in Taiwan have reached new levels in the final quarter of 2023 spiking 3370 percent a more than thirty fold increase since the previous year according to a new
threat report from website security firm Cloudflare While the report did not directly link the attacks to China it did note that China is one of the largest sources of these types of attacksppTaiwanese Vice President Lai Chingte who is running for president has called attempted interference by China in this years election
the most serious everppAnd the attacks are getting harder to gauge due to the rise of artificial intelligencepowered content which allows cyberattacks and influence campaigns to flood the digital space at a much higher clip China a worldleader in new AI development and investment appears to wield the tech with a clear
vested interest in influencing Taiwans future and the worlds opinion on the islands sovereigntyppThe number and types of attacks China wages against Taiwan are very different from what they deploy to other nations former FBI Executive Assistant Director of Information and Technology James Turgal said in an interviewppTurgal calls the strategy an embarrassment campaign where China infiltrates a system not to steal data but to post degrading statements that make Taipeis institutions look badppYou basically manipulate and take over the website and put up antiTaiwan statements on government sites that are forwardfacing which is a type of attack you dont see against US interests he said You saw a lot of those just before Russia entered UkraineppLiu Pengyu spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC called the allegations of Chinese cyberattacks against Taiwan clearly disinformation in an emailed statement The Chinese governments position on cybersecurity is consistent and clear We firmly oppose and combat cyberattacks of any kind Liu saidppLiu added that Beijing hopes the ballot will be conducive to crossStrait peace and stabilityppThe Chinese government views Taiwan as a renegade province rather than an independent nation and tensions have reached new heights under Chinese President Xi Jinping The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs regularly declines questions on Taiwan citing the belief that Taiwan is not a foreign policy issue for China as the island belongs to the nation The ministry instead has publicly accused the US of
being a hacker empireppChinese officials during defense talks this week in Washington said China will not make any concession or compromise on the Taiwan question and asked the US to not support Taiwan independence according to a statement from Chinas defense ministryppTaiwanese officials say the threats from China have grown increasingly intense Authorities recently observed
four alleged Chinese spy balloons directly above the island for the first time and are investigating alleged sponsored trips for hundreds of politicians to China aimed at swaying the vote toward Beijing
according to ReutersppRoy Chun Lee Taiwans deputy minister of foreign affairs told POLITICO in November that Taiwans public sector sustains more than 13 million cyberattacks every month Ahead of the election he said these attacks were only increasingppEvery day there are attempts to find loopholes and backdoors in our system he saidppBecause Taiwan votes on paper ballots election equipment isnt the main concern Instead US officials and cybersecurity experts say Chinese cyberattacks have focused on behindthescenes optics to delegitimize Taiwans democratic stake in the island by weaving discord and disinformationppScott McConnell a spokesperson for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency which protects US elections against cyber threats declined to comment on any aid the agency is providing to Taiwan to defend against election threats The White House did not respond to a request for comment on its coordination with TaiwanppBut the attacks have drawn its attention President Joe Biden
reportedly warned Xi in San Francisco last year not to get involved in Taiwans electionsppI made it clear I didnt expect any interference any at all Biden said at a
press conference following the meeting Look do I trust You know I trust but verify as the old saying goesppPhelim Kine contributed to this reportppLink Copiedpp 2024 POLITICO LLCp
