People First Party (PFP) officials have had their phones tapped and their computers hacked, PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) said.
In an interview published yesterday by online news source NOWNews, Soong was quoted as saying hackers had gained access to several party officials’ e-mail accounts, which they then used to target the party’s communication and information network by sending --e-mails embedded with viruses.
The hacking incident had severely hampered the party’s ability to provide election information and to communicate, the party’s presidential candidate was quoted as saying.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Soong added that he thought his phone had been tapped, saying: “Some people already knew and had prepared for things that I had only discussed over the telephone.”
“Furthering oneself by killing a rival is the act of a despicable man,” Soong said.
PFP spokesperson Wu Kun-yu (吳崑玉) yesterday said that since Soong announced his intention to run for the presidency, party officials, including Soong’s personal assistant, had all received e-mails with Trojan horse viruses.
“It is a threatening move,” Wu said, adding that its goal was to paralyze the PFP’s ability to communicate.
Thomas Lee (李桐豪), a PFP policy adviser and professor at National Chengchi University, said he had asked the university’s computer center to assist in tracing the attacks. However, the sender’s IP address could not be traced, he said.
Wu said that the computer virus prevented officials from starting up their computers, the only effective method being to reinstall the operating system, resulting in a loss of data.
Wu said the PFP has asked the Taipei City Criminal Investigation Division and the Criminal Investigation Bureau’s Ninth Investigation team to assist in the investigation.
In other news, Wu said the party yesterday afternoon sent the Central Election Commission’s Taipei branch a second batch of signatures collected for Soong’s presidential petition as the 45-day drive came to an end, bringing the number of signatures to 463,259.
Although the party received more than 500,000 signatures nationwide, Wu said some them were invalid because the terms were filled out improperly.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS