In the first incident, on August 6, Chinese activist hackers displayed a series of messages expressing support for Taiwan’s unification with the People’s Republic of China. They replaced the screens with a map of mainland China and Taiwan, accompanied by the words “China, no less.”
Other cyberattacks also took place on market panels and Taiwan government infrastructure websites, which the government itself verified.
Cyberattacks Attributed to China Managed by FTV
Shortly after the August 6 attack, which lasted for three minutes, FTV News reported that the YouTube broadcast was hacked, although the television channel was not affected.
Screenshots taken by FTV viewers showed the network’s YouTube channel displaying pro-Chinese statements such as “China’s territorial sovereignty cannot be interfered with by foreigners” or “I want to use the young of our generation to defend prosperous China”.
Others were more menacing, such as “Public should not be trampled on and playing with fire will definitely set you on fire”.
Since then, FTV News has been the target of intermittent Direct Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks, according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).
A spokesperson for the network said that the broadcaster “managed recent cyberattacks to ensure broadcast security.”
A week ago, a Taiwanese grocery chain also posted electronic billboards, “Pelosi, get out of Taiwan!” was the target of a cyber attack.
Nancy Pelosi has become the highest US official to visit Taiwan in the past 25 years. During the visit, he expressed political and security support for the country, presented a message of cooperation, and met with pro-democracy and human rights activists who could motivate cyberattacks attributed to China.
In addition to the cyberattacks on China, the diplomatic visit to Taiwan triggered a major backlash from Xi Jiping’s government, when the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the US ambassador to Beijing had been summoned to make a statement.
Beijing has cut off co-operation with Washington on several fronts, including tackling the current climate. And it conducts military and naval exercises in Taiwan.
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Cyber Attacks Confirmed by Taiwan
Taiwanese officials also confirmed an “unprecedented” attack on government websites and infrastructure following the visit of the Speaker of the US House of Representatives.
Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that the current wave of “cognitive operations” began before the military exercises were announced, Chen Yu-lin, deputy director of the Political and War Department of Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, told reporters on Monday.
Chen said the “hybrid warfare campaign” sought to create an atmosphere by suggesting that China could invade Taiwan to “attack the government’s public image and undermine civilian and military morale”.
“China’s military exercises began on August 4, when the number of cognitive warfare-related posts targeting Taiwan skyrocketed to 73, reaching 87 on August 5,” Chen said. “[Mas] The official media published a total of 87 messages on August 2 before the start of the military exercises.
The government issued a press release to inform the public that the messages were not true, including the downing of a Taiwanese fighter jet accompanying Pelosi’s plane.
“We immediately announced that this was fake news,” Chen told RFA.
Chen Hui-min, editor-in-chief of the Taiwan FactCheck Center, also spoke to RFA about the alleged cyber attacks by China and the spread of false content.
He reported that the organization has detected a 30-40% increase in fake news since Pelosi’s visit.
“The biggest difference [do passado] Fake news appears to be spreading through Twitter in English, Chen told RFA.
“There is also a lot of misinformation. [plataforma de mídia social] Some from Chinese Weibo, which goes to social media platforms used in Taiwan, including LINE and Facebook.”
“It was very rare to see these Twitter posts in English,” Chen said. “Accounts that previously focused on the war in Ukraine suddenly started spreading fake news about Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.”
National Taiwan University was another hacked organization whose official website stated “there is only one China in this world”.
The National Palace Museum was forced to issue a statement rejecting online rumors that the government is preparing to ship tens of thousands of rare artifacts abroad for safety, RFA reported.
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source: Noticias
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