Foreign hackers are hijacking social media accounts in Taiwan to spread disinformation aimed at damaging the reputation of the armed forces, the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) said yesterday.
The newly identified cyberoperatives hacked into devices connected to the Internet, such as surveillance cameras and facial recognition systems, to gain access to social media accounts on the forum Dcard and the Professional Technology Temple (PTT) bulletin board system, the bureau said in a news release.
China-linked hackers impersonating Taiwanese air force pilots have used the accounts to write posts about alleged poor pay and working conditions in the military, it said.
Photo: Reuters
One post said that many pilots were willing to face NT$3 million (US$92,914) in financial losses rather than renew their military contracts, while another said that the author was leaving the military for the civilian sector to have more time with their family, the bureau said.
On PTT, an account named “ss900287” amplified the messages by posting a link to a photograph purportedly showing a list of retired military pilots applying for jobs at China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), it said.
The Air Force Command’s efforts to debunk the fake stories have been met with a surge of similar posts on 170 abnormal Facebook groups, including “The Strait Today” (今日海峽), “Commentary by the Commander” (提督) and “You Ban, Me Mad” (你下架我狂), it said.
Chinese hackers have targeted facial recognition systems, digital cameras and other network devices to obtain personal data, which they have used to steal social media accounts, the bureau said, citing an investigation by its cybersecurity unit.
Assuming the identity of genuine users has allowed Beijing to enhance the apparent authenticity of the disinformation, it said.
The external forces responsible for the disinformation campaign used data de-identification techniques and rerouted their activity to mask their identities and location, the bureau said.
Social media platforms were notified and asked to ban the groups and users connected to the incidents, it said.
Taiwanese should enhance the security of networked devices and protect their accounts by using strong passwords and regularly updating them, it said.
In other news, fishers in Penghu County reported spotting a flotilla of Chinese fishing boats using fake Taiwanese radar transponder codes in waters southwest of the county’s Cimei Township (七美).
The boats pinged as Taiwanese vessels on radar, but upon visual inspection were clearly identified as being of Chinese origin, sources said.
Chinese fishing boats can be identified by their black hull paint and illegal vessels would be expelled upon detection, the Coast Guard Administration said.
The reason for the Chinese boats disguising their transponder code is not known, the agency added.
Additional reporting by Liu Yu-ching and CNA
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS