The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday confirmed it was targeted by Chinese hackers, but said that no information was stolen, after a group of alleged Chinese hackers were indicted in the US on Wednesday for targeting US government agencies, MOFA and several other foreign governments.
US federal officials accused 10 people of collaborating to steal data from their targets and sanctioned a Chinese tech company over what they termed as a years-long spying campaign that stole information across the US and around the world.
Eight of the suspects worked for Anxun Information Technology, better known as i-Soon, and two worked for the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.
Photo: Taipei Times
According to the indictment and a separate statement issued by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, i-Soon is described as “a key player in the PRC’s [People’s Republic of China’s] hacker-for-hire ecosystem.”
These hacking attempts targeted the US Defense Intelligence Agency, the US Department of Commerce, the foreign ministries of Taiwan, South Korea, India and Indonesia, news organizations critical of China and the New York State Assembly.
Asked to comment, the ministry yesterday said it has always been a target of Chinese cyberattacks due to its sensitive nature.
The ministry confirmed that it had been made aware of the hacking attempts and said it has since launched a thorough investigation and determined none of the attempts to hack into the system were successful.
Chinese hacking attempts are “despised” by the international community, the ministry said in a statement, adding that it acknowledged the recent indictment in the US as an effort to hold the alleged hackers accountable.
MOFA will continue to work closely with like-minded countries to jointly enhance information security and combat cyberattacks initiated by authoritarian regimes, it said.
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