A pro-Russia hacker group has launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Taiwanese government in retaliation for President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments suggesting that China should have a territorial dispute with Russia, an information security company said today.
The hacker group, NoName057, recently launched an HTTPs flood attack called “DDoSia” targeting Taiwanese government and financial units, Radware told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times).
Local tax bureaus in New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were mentioned by the hackers. Only the Hsinchu Local Tax Bureau site appeared to be down earlier in the day, but was back up by the afternoon.
Photo: screen grab from Telegram
NoName057 released DDoSia as a DDoS attack toolkit in 2022 for use against critics of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Taiwan faces cyberattacks from overseas because of its special political situation, the Ministry of Digital Affairs’ Administration for Cyber Security said.
The agency is getting information through exchanges with other countries and has notified relevant authorities to deal with the situation, it said, but added that the information must remain confidential.
Radware said that the attack might be related to Taiwan’s support for Ukraine and Lai’s comment on Chinese and Russian territory during an interview last week.
“Last week, Taiwan’s president suggested that China should take away Russia’s land in the Far East,” NoName057 said on Telegram. “This statement reflects the ‘virtual reality’ in which such satellite countries are immersed.”
“One of our tasks is to remind such Taiwanese that they are just a pawn in this game, taking advantage of US protectionism in the international arena,” the group added. “Beijing’s control over the island is only a matter of time.”
NoName057 usually targets countries that support Ukraine, attacking their financial sectors, public infrastructure, communication services and media outlets, Radware said.
The hacker group has attacked Ukrainian and Canadian government Web sites, and Czech presidential candidates’ Web sites, the company said.
Speaking on cable TV network ERATV's The View with Catherine Chang last week, Lai said that China's aim of annexing Taiwan was not driven by concerns for "territorial integrity."
"If it is really about territorial integrity, why don't they take back the land that was signed away and occupied by Russia in the Treaty of Aigun?" Lai asked, referring to the 1858 treaty signed by the Qing Dynasty that ceded about 600,000km² of land in Manchuria to the Russian empire.
Beijing wishes to annex Taiwan because it wants to "transform the rules-based global order" and "achieve hegemony," not because of concerns over territorial integrity, Lai said.
Additional reporting by Kayleigh Madjar, CNA and Reuters
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by