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
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
Weather conditions across Taiwan are expected to remain stable today, but cloudy to rainy skies are expected from tomorrow onward due to increasing moisture in the atmosphere, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Daytime highs today are expected to hit 25-27°C in western Taiwan and 22-24°C in the eastern counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung, data on the CWA website indicated. After sunset, temperatures could drop to 16-17°C in most parts of Taiwan. For tomorrow, precipitation is likely in northern Taiwan as a cloud system moves in from China. Daytime temperatures are expected to hover around 25°C, the CWA said. Starting Monday, areas
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
Taiwan has recorded its first fatal case of Coxsackie B5 enterovirus in 10 years after a one-year-old boy from southern Taiwan died from complications early last month, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. CDC spokesman Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) told a news conference that the child initially developed a fever and respiratory symptoms before experiencing seizures and loss of consciousness. The boy was diagnosed with acute encephalitis and admitted to intensive care, but his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he passed away on the sixth day of illness, Lo said. This also marks Taiwan’s third enterovirus-related death this year and the first severe
RSS