Cybersecurity investigators have identified a Chinese hacker using the handle “OKE” as the prime suspect in the biggest data leak in Taiwan’s history.
OKE offered a cache allegedly containing the personal information of 23.56 million Taiwanese for US$5,000 on the Breach Forums hacker marketplace in October last year, sparking concern about national security, lack of oversight and data management negligence by government agencies.
Investigators have identified OKE as a Chinese hacker in his 20s, the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau’s Cyber Security Investigation Office said in a news release on Friday.
Photo: Taipei Times files
The case is being handled by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. The suspect could be charged with contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) and offenses relating to computer security in the Criminal Code. Prosecutors have issued an immigration control bulletin against him.
Investigators said that the hacker used virtual currency to receive and transfer payments through a digital wallet registered in China, which contains his national identification number and other personal information.
Investigators said they were able to ascertain the hacker’s gender, year of birth, province of residence and other personal data.
OKE provided a subset of 200,000 records so that buyers on Breach Forums could check the authenticity of the data.
The subset contained the data of a number of central and local government officials, investigators said.
An analysis found that the data were based on household registration records from before April 2018, although some deviations from the original entries were found, meaning it is possible the information was stolen from other government agencies, investigators said.
Prosecutors would continue to monitor the money flowing through OKE’s digital wallet and bank accounts, officials said.
“I don’t understand why the Taiwan government is so stupid. The KYC certification system is an easy thing for everyone here,” OKE wrote on Breach Forums on Monday.
He said his digital wallet is not as easy to track as the government claims, and he has a system in place to avoid being monitored.
Officials called on all government agencies and businesses to boost private data protection, enhance cybersecurity awareness among employees and keep backup data.
They reminded the public that it is illegal to sell, purchase or access private citizens’ information without authorization, while stolen data sets being sold on hackers’ forums could also contain malware and viruses.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
RSS