Cyber attacks against Taiwan are dramatically intensifying.
Taipei:
Millions of people were taken offline, banks were crippled, and the world’s most advanced semiconductor industry was paralyzed. Taiwan’s doomsday scenario includes not only a Chinese military invasion but also a series of attacks on its cyber infrastructure.
China claims Taiwan as its own territory, and Taiwan’s security planners are constantly simulating worst-case scenarios to prepare for the day China decides to take over.
Taiwanese officials and cybersecurity experts say that if China were to invade, attacks would not be limited to security forces or defense infrastructure, effectively cutting off Taiwan from the rest of the world.
Crystal Tu, a cybersecurity researcher at the Taiwan Defense and Security Research Institute, said Taiwan faces a continuing threat from stealth attackers who access computer networks to “sit and wait within a victim’s infrastructure.” He said there was.
Tu told AFP that the country could be highly active in times of conflict, including “cyber operations aimed at destroying critical infrastructure, including the communications, energy and financial sectors.”
Cyberattacks against Taiwan have increased dramatically in the year leading up to Saturday’s presidential election, which China describes as a choice between war and peace for Taiwan’s 23 million residents.
Taiwanese authorities have announced that government agencies face an estimated 5 million cyberattacks per day.
Cybersecurity firm Fortinet also reported an 80% increase in cyberattacks in the first half of 2023, placing Taiwan first in the Asia-Pacific region.
“Cyber operations against Taiwan really never stop,” Tu said.
Some of the tactics used against Taiwan’s infrastructure have been identified as methods used by Chinese state-backed groups.
Last year, Microsoft warned of a threat from a group called Flax Typhoon, which is based in China and targets Taiwan.
The US tech giant said Flax Typhoon “intends to conduct espionage operations and maintain access” to various organizations in Taiwan for as long as possible.
semiconductor hub
Cyber attackers have not only targeted Taiwan’s government and defense agencies, but have also caused damage to Taiwan’s semiconductor industry.
Taiwanese companies play an important role in supplying chips, which are the lifeblood of the global economy.
Semiconductors are so important that one former U.S. official said last year that the United States would rather destroy this semiconductor infrastructure than leave it in the hands of an invading Chinese military.
Last year, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which controls more than half of the world’s chip production, reported a data breach at one of its suppliers.
“Taiwan is an important target because it sits at the top of a critical high-tech supply chain,” said Fortinet’s Jim Liu.
“Geopolitics and relations (between China and Taiwan) may inevitably lead to an increase in cybersecurity incidents.”
Since 2016, when Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party took office as president of Taiwan, China has increased diplomatic and military pressure on Taiwan.
She considers Taiwan an independent state and does not recognize China’s claims to the island — a view echoed by Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Lai Ching-toku.
worst case scenario
China’s increasing aggressiveness, including its pseudo-blockade of Taiwan, has fueled speculation among policymakers about the potential timeline and method of Beijing’s invasion.
In the digital realm, Taiwan officials say China could go beyond cyberattacks to effectively cut off Taiwan from the rest of the world.
“Taiwan is an island, so all communication with the outside world relies on submarine cables,” Taiwan’s deputy digital minister Lee Huai-jen Lee told AFP in a recent interview.
“The worst-case scenario is that all the submarine cables are cut.”
In preparation for this, Taiwan is looking to the sky.
Deputy Digital Minister Lee told AFP that Taiwan is working with two foreign satellite service providers and Taiwan’s largest telecommunications company.
He said satellite receivers will be installed at 700 locations across Taiwan to “test whether the communication system can be switched over” during a crisis.
“The first thing… is to maintain the stability of the government chain of command and to maintain the accuracy of the information provided to civilians,” he told AFP.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)