Microsoft on Thursday revealed that it had detected a campaign by China-backed hackers targeting civilian and government infrastructure in the US and its territory of Guam. The report was quickly confirmed by Western intelligence agencies. Some have said the campaign could be part of efforts to delay a US or other allied response to a possible Chinese attack against Taiwan.
The campaign was discovered following the detection of mysterious computer code in telecommunications systems in Guam and elsewhere in the US. The discovery prompted Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK to issue cybersecurity alerts against similar campaigns targeting their systems.
Microsoft analysts said the cyberattacks were carried out by Volt Typhoon, a state-sponsored hacker group based in China, which usually focuses on espionage and information gathering.
However, this is the first time that a threat actor appeared to be laying the groundwork for coming attacks, as the “Volt Typhoon campaign is pursuing development of capabilities that could disrupt critical communications infrastructure between the United States and Asia region during future crises,” Microsoft said.
The cyberattack on government infrastructure in Guam, which is home to a critical US military base key to maintaining Washington’s presence in the Asia-Pacific region, might have been a test run of an attempt to hamper the US’ capability to respond to possible Chinese military action in the region, such as an invasion of Taiwan.
Taiwan is no stranger to cyberattacks originating from China: Government agencies face an average of 5 million cyberattacks and probes a day.
The cyberattacks are part of China’s cognitive warfare campaign, National Security Council Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄) told media this week, adding that they are also aimed at stealing technology and information, damaging crucial system operations.
Cybersecurity is a new, but crucial field for national security. The latest incident shows that China might launch an invasion of Taiwan while unleashing a volley of cyberattacks against the US and its allies to cripple their responses without firing a shot.
The US House of Representatives Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the US and the Chinese Communist Party said in a report that Taiwan and the US are vulnerable in the cyberspace, urging US lawmakers to improve cybersecurity at US ports and help Taiwan do the same by passing the bipartisan Taiwan cybersecurity resilience act to deepen transnational cooperation.
To counter cyberthreats from China, Taiwan has steadily put a lot effort into organizational structures for offensive cybercapability, such as setting up an “information in communication electronic force command” to bring communication, cyber and electronic warfare units under one roof.
Experts have said that Taiwan has the capability to breach China’s key systems, examples of which have already been reported.
The government further established the Ministry of Digital Affairs and the National Institute for Cyber Security to direct policy and upgrade technology, and passed the Cyber Security Management Act (資通安全管理法) to enhance the cybersecurity environment in the government and private sectors, as well as to promote public awareness of cybersecurity.
Taiwan could play a critical role in thwarting Chinese cyberattacks worldwide. The nation should accelerate the buildup of cybersecurity networks with other democratic nations to counter Beijing’ disruptive attacks.
On March 22, 2023, at the close of their meeting in Moscow, media microphones were allowed to record Chinese Communist Party (CCP) dictator Xi Jinping (習近平) telling Russia’s dictator Vladimir Putin, “Right now there are changes — the likes of which we haven’t seen for 100 years — and we are the ones driving these changes together.” Widely read as Xi’s oath to create a China-Russia-dominated world order, it can be considered a high point for the China-Russia-Iran-North Korea (CRINK) informal alliance, which also included the dictatorships of Venezuela and Cuba. China enables and assists Russia’s war against Ukraine and North Korea’s
After thousands of Taiwanese fans poured into the Tokyo Dome to cheer for Taiwan’s national team in the World Baseball Classic’s (WBC) Pool C games, an image of food and drink waste left at the stadium said to have been left by Taiwanese fans began spreading on social media. The image sparked wide debate, only later to be revealed as an artificially generated image. The image caption claimed that “Taiwanese left trash everywhere after watching the game in Tokyo Dome,” and said that one of the “three bad habits” of Taiwanese is littering. However, a reporter from a Japanese media outlet
Taiwanese pragmatism has long been praised when it comes to addressing Chinese attempts to erase Taiwan from the international stage. “Taipei” and the even more inaccurate and degrading “Chinese Taipei,” imposed titles required to participate in international events, are loathed by Taiwanese. That is why there was huge applause in Taiwan when Japanese public broadcaster NHK referred to the Taiwanese Olympic team as “Taiwan,” instead of “Chinese Taipei” during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. What is standard protocol for most nations — calling a national team by the name their country is commonly known by — is impossible for
India is not China, and many of its residents fear it never will be. It is hard to imagine a future in which the subcontinent’s manufacturing dominates the world, its foreign investment shapes nations’ destinies, and the challenge of its economic system forces the West to reshape its own policies and principles. However, that is, apparently, what the US administration fears. Speaking in New Delhi last week, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau warned that “we will not make the same mistakes with India that we did with China 20 years ago.” Although he claimed the recently agreed framework
RSS