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 military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
RSS