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.
The Taipei MRT is open all night tonight following New Year’s Eve festivities, and is offering free rides from nearby Green Line stations. Taipei’s 2025 New Year’s Eve celebrations kick off at Taipei City Hall Square tonight, with performances from the boy band Energy, the South Korean girl group Apink, and singers Gigi Leung (梁詠琪) and Faith Yang (楊乃文). Taipei 101’s annual New Year’s firework display follows at midnight, themed around Taiwan’s Premier12 baseball championship. Estimates say there will be about 200,000 people in attendance, which is more than usual as this year’s celebrations overlap with A-mei’s (張惠妹) concert at Taipei Dome. There are
LOOKING FOR WHEELS: The military is seeking 8x8 single-chassis vehicles to test the new missile and potentially replace the nation’s existing launch vehicles, the source said Taiwan is developing a hypersonic missile based on the Ching Tien (擎天) supersonic cruise missile, and a Czech-made truck has been tentatively selected as its launch vehicle, a source said yesterday. The Ching Tien, formerly known as Yun Feng (雲峰, “Cloud Peak”), is a domestically developed missile with a range of 1,200km to 2,000km being deployed in casemate-type positions as of last month, an official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The hypersonic missile to be derived from the Ching Tien would feature improved range and a mobile launch platform, while the latter would most likely be a 12x12 single chassis
UP AND DOWN: The route would include a 16.4km underground section from Zuoying to Fongshan and a 9.5km elevated part from Fongshan to Pingtung Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday confirmed a project to extend the high-speed rail (HSR) to Pingtung County through Kaohsiung. Cho made the announcement at a ceremony commemorating the completion of a dome at Kaohsiung Main Station. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications approved the HSR expansion in 2019 using a route that branches off a line from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung’s Zuoying District (左營). The project was ultimately delayed due to a lack of support for the route. The Zuoying route would have trains stop at the Zuoying Station and return to a junction before traveling southward to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝).
Parts of the nation, including in the south, could experience temperatures as low as 7°C early tomorrow morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. A strong continental cold air mass coupled with the effect of radiative cooling would bring cold weather to several northern cities and counties, and could even affect areas as far south as Tainan early tomorrow, the CWA said. Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties would experience temperatures below 10°C until this evening, according to cold surge advisories issued by the weather agency. The weather across the nation is forecast to remain
RSS