The Ministry of Science and Technology yesterday said it had not noticed a surge in the volume of incoming data transmissions from North Korea after several international media outlets linked the hacking attacks on Sony Pictures to Taiwan.
A number of international news outlets, including the BBC and NBC, yesterday quoted Washington officials as saying that they believe the cyberattacks were routed to servers in Taiwan to take advantage of faster computers.
The attack took place shortly after Sony Pictures announced the release date of The Interview, a comedy starring actors Seth Rogan and James Franco, who play two journalists-turned-CIA agents sent to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The cyberassault has resulted in many Hollywood celebrities’ personal information being leaked over the Internet — including social security numbers, e-mail exchanges, mailbox passwords and copies of passports.
Tsai Yi-lang (蔡一郎), project leader of the ministry’s Center for High-performance Computing Information Security, said that the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL) had not detected any surge in the volume of incoming data transmissions from North Korea since the first attacks took place.
“North Korea does not have any outgoing underwater optic fiber cables. The only Internet access it possesses are land-based networks that it leases from China, so it is unlikely that it had access to Taiwan’s servers,” Tsai said.
He said that the US officials who expressed concern over Taiwan’s possible role in the attacks could have learned from Sony Pictures of Internet protocols (IP) coming from Taiwan, but that would not mean Taiwanese were involved.
“The alleged Northern Korean hackers could have incorporated virtual private networks or anonymity networks, for example by using the Tor project software — both are capable of displaying IPs originating from other countries to conceal their users’ real identities,” he said.
The use of botnets, a computer virus that enables hackers to command computers remotely, could also have given rise to Washington’s suspicions, he said.
Tsai said to avoid becoming the victim of botnets, people should not click on any suspicious e-mails or links on social media, including game requests and advertisements.
He said that the NARL would continue monitoring outgoing data transmission linked to Sony Pictures’ database and incoming data transmission surges from North Korea.
Meanwhile, the Executive Yuan’s National Information and Communication Security Taskforce yesterday said it was “still gathering information” about Washington’s allegations.
EIGHT-YEAR WINDOW: Avril Haines said that Beijing is closely watching the Russian invasion of Ukraine, although Moscow’s actions have not sped up Beijing’s timeline The threat posed by China to Taiwan until 2030 is “critical,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said on Tuesday while testifying on worldwide threats at a hearing of the US Senate Committee on Armed Services. “I think it’s fair to say that it’s critical, or acute,” Haines said when asked by US Senator Josh Hawley if she viewed the threat facing Taiwan to be acute from now until 2030. “It’s our view that they [China] are working hard to effectively put themselves into a position in which their military is capable of taking Taiwan over our intervention,” she said, without
NO CONSENSUS YET: Local governments and the CECC have agreed to change the ‘3+4’ self-isolation policy, but are still mulling what to replace it with The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) and local governments have agreed to ease restrictions on close contacts of COVID-19 cases, although the details are still being discussed, the center said yesterday. The discussions follow Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Saturday approving a proposal to shorten the “3+4” policy — three days of home isolation followed by four days of self-disease prevention — for close contacts who have received booster doses. “We did not reach a consensus on how to revise the current restrictions, but we all agreed that the administrative burden must be reduced and the intensity of restrictions must be eased,
OPPOSING CHINESE ‘HOSTILITY’: The bill orders the state secretary to create a plan to regain observer status for Taiwan, saying Taipei is a model contributor to world health US President Joe Biden on Friday signed a bill into law to help Taiwan regain observer status at the World Health Assembly (WHA), demonstrating Washington’s support for Taiwan’s international participation. Friday was the deadline for Biden to sign the bill (S.812), which directs “the Secretary of State to develop a strategy to regain observer status for Taiwan in the World Health Organization (WHO), and for other purposes.” The 75th WHA, the decisionmaking body of the WHO, is scheduled to meet in Geneva, Switzerland, from Sunday next week to May 28. The bill, introduced by US Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the US Senate
‘DAMOCLES SWORD’: An Italian missionary said the arrest of cardinal Zen is a blow for the church in Hong Kong, China and the world, signaling great danger ahead China yesterday defended the arrest of a 90-year-old Catholic cardinal under Hong Kong’s National Security Law, a move that triggered international outrage and deepened concerns over Beijing’s crackdown on freedoms in the territory. Retired cardinal Joseph Zen (陳日君), one of the most senior Catholic clerics in Asia, was among a group of veteran democracy advocates arrested on Wednesday for “colluding with foreign forces.” Pop singer Denise Ho (何韻詩), veteran barrister Margaret Ng (吳靄儀) and cultural studies academic Hui Po-keung (許寶強) were also arrested, the latter as he attempted to fly to Europe to take up an academic post. Cyd Ho (何秀蘭), a democracy