Government agencies reported an unprecedented number of cyberattacks on Tuesday, when US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan, as Internet traffic volume reached 23 times the previous single-day record.
The Presidential Office, the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs continued to experience cyberattacks on Wednesday, Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) told a news conference after the weekly Cabinet meeting.
No information security breaches were found after the government activated and reinforced preventive mechanisms, he said.
Photo: Hsieh Chieh-yu, Taipei Times
“Official Web sites of the Presidential Office and the Ministry of National Defense are under Level A cybersecurity responsibility. The Executive Yuan’s cybersecurity department has been asked to conduct round-the-clock inspections of government Web sites,” Lo said.
“The targets and means of the cyberattacks change daily, and the government is closely monitoring the situation,” he added.
Government agencies reported cyberattacks occurring in greater frequency in the past few days than previously, Lo said, adding that the purpose of the attacks was to penetrate government networks.
However, significant damage was prevented by protocols developed during regular information security drills, he said.
Taiwan Power Co yesterday said that it experienced 4.9 million cyberattacks on Wednesday alone, surpassing the total number of attacks recorded in June and last month.
The Web site of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the nation’s largest international airport, was allegedly attacked by hackers yesterday after several users said that it took longer than usual to open the site.
“The Internet connection of the airport’s official site had been unstable since 8am, but it returned to normal at around 11am,” Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a statement.
“The company’s internal network and our application continued to function normally,” it added.
Before Pelosi arrived, electronic bulletin boards in the Taiwan Railways Administration’s Sinzuoying Station and in some 7-Eleven convenience stores were hacked as well, showing messages in simplified Chinese characters asking Pelosi to leave Taiwan.
National Communications Commission Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) on Wednesday told a news conference at the Executive Yuan that the bulletin boards in the convenience stores were easiily hacked because they use Chinese software, which could contain Trojan malware and make them targets of cyberattacks.
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