Hackers known as the Winnti Group were behind ransomware attacks on Taiwan’s two largest fuel suppliers, the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau said on Friday, adding that similar attacks on 10 domestic companies are likely in the next few days.
On May 4, state-run CPC Corp, Taiwan announced that its computer system had been infected with ransomware, causing payment issues at gas stations.
Formosa Petrochemical Corp reported similar issues the following day, and shut down its computer systems.
Powertech Technology Inc, a Hsinchu-based semiconductor firm, also reported a ransomware attack on May 5.
The bureau said that the Winnti Group, which is believed to be from China, likely had access to the firms’ computer systems for months before it carried out the attacks.
Liu Chia-jung (劉家榮), deputy director of the bureau’s Information Security Workstation, said that the hackers gained access to the companies’ Active Directory — a service for managing computers and other devices within a network — and used its task scheduling function to distribute the ransomware throughout each company’s computer network.
When employees’ computers tried to access the network at the start of the work day, a message appeared stating that their files had been encrypted and demanding a ransom of US$3,000 to unlock them, Liu said.
The bureau has asked international authorities investigating six German and Swiss e-mail accounts believed to be connected to the crimes for help, Liu said.
It has also asked US authorities to investigate a US-based company from which the group rented a virtual private server.
The bureau said it had information that the hackers planned to carry out similar attacks on 10 other Taiwanese companies in the next few days, but added that it did not know which are being targeted.
The bureau said that it has advised companies on several steps they could take to improve their digital security.
CPC, which local media reported was suffering computer issues again on Thursday, released a statement on Friday blaming the issue on an operational error, and said that it had strengthened its information security procedures following the May 4 attack.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS