A Chinese national has been identified as the person who sent a series of bomb threats to Taiwanese officials over the past few months, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said yesterday.
Although the person used a virtual private network (VPN) to mask their online trail, the High-tech Crime Center identified an IP address in Xian in China’s Shaanxi Province, center chief Rufus Lin (林建隆) said.
“The perpetrator at various times used VPN servers in Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the US and China to make it appear as though their IP address was in those countries,” Lin said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Since October last year, the perpetrator has targeted ministries, elected representatives, transportation hubs and tourist sites in Taiwan with e-mailed bomb threats or threats of violence against the recipients, he said.
At least seven legislators from the Democratic Progressive Party and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) received the e-mails, he said.
“The perpetrator spoofed the identities of Taiwanese politicians, ministers or other prominent personalities in the ‘from’ field of the e-mails to boost the chances that they would be opened,” Lin said, adding that they mainly used Gmail and Outlook accounts.
“Our investigators traced the perpetrator’s digital footprint through analysis of their e-mail usage, social media accounts and browsing history,” he said.
“We compared VPN usage, and recurrent word and sentence patterns to conclude with high certainty that the e-mailed threats were all from the same person,” he added.
This was criminal action aimed at instilling fear and anxiety in society, Lin said, adding that the bureau has contacted Chinese authorities to help with the case according to the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement (兩岸共同打擊犯罪及司法互助協議).
Bureau officials said that bomb squads swiftly coordinated with police investigators and forensic experts to sweep areas that were targeted in the e-mails, while police patrols were enhanced.
“Up to now, we have not found find any explosives or suspicious items in these places,” the officials said. “We can assure the general safety of the people who were targeted, as well as the public.”
“There is no need to fear,” they said.
Separately, Minister of the Interior Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) told lawmakers that Taiwan is a democratic country with rule of law, and it would not permit threats of harm against its elected officials.
“Police agencies have boosted security work to protect legislators and ensure their personal safety, including in the legislature and their offices,” he said at the legislature in Taipei.
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