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.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS