The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Web site has come under attack from cyberspies seeking to profile visitors to the site, part of a campaign to get information about the party’s policies following its election victory in January, according to a US cybersecurity researcher.
On at least two separate occasions in April, the DPP’s Web site redirected visitors to a spoof online address that hosted a malicious script. That script likely profiled them and selected candidates for additional cyberattacks, according to research by security company FireEye Inc, which said in a statement it had not attributed the operation to a specific group.
FireEye said that it had previously detected China-based cyberespionage groups using the spoof Web site tool and that its use against Taiwanese political targets suggests the actors behind the DPP attacks are supported by Chinese sponsors.
“Taiwan’s public and private sector need to bring together the technology, expertise and threat intelligence to detect and then respond to advanced cyberattacks,” said Michael Chue, general manager for the Greater China region at FireEye.
The DPP’s site was first compromised on April 7 and its administrators appeared to fix it on April 8, according to FireEye.
On April 13, it came under attack again, suggesting “a threat group might be continually monitoring the site due to its importance as a strategic espionage target,” FireEye said.
The attack was again repelled, it added.
FireEye said it expects a sustained hacking campaign against DPP politicians and associated organizations.
It is probable that international non-governmental organizations, diplomatic agencies and other global entities could also be affected by this campaign, it said.
DPP spokesman Wang Min-sheng (王閔生) declined to comment on the April incidents reported by FireEye, but said that the party’s Web site has not experienced any “major systematic attacks” recently.
The DPP is not a customer of FireEye’s, he said.
FireEye said its intelligence team noticed the compromised Web site and that the company had not been hired by the DPP to investigate the attacks.
The DPP, along with local news organizations, came under attack in the lead-up to January’s elections, FireEye said in December last year.
Individual party members also said they had evidence that their e-mail accounts had been hacked.
FireEye, based in California, provides malware and network-threat protection systems. After its Mandiant division alleged in 2013 that China’s military might be behind a group that hacked at least 141 companies worldwide since 2006, the US issued indictments against five military officials who were purported to be members of that group.
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
RSS