Taiwanese Hackers Accused Of Attacking China

Uploaded on 2025-03-25 in TECHNOLOGY--Hackers, INTELLIGENCE-Hot Spots-China, FREE TO VIEW

China’s top spy agency, the State Security Ministry (MSS), has said that four individuals probably linked to Taiwan’s military are cyber attacking mainland China. The MSS identified the suspects as members of Taiwan’s Information, Communications, and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) within the defence ministry.

There have been cyber attacks on China targeting key infrastructure, including power grids, water supplies and telecommunications networks since 2023 and the MSS claim that ICEFECOM has hired hackers and cyber security firms to conduct Taiwan government-directed cyber attacks.

The MSS report revealed the names and photographs of Taiwanese military personnel accused of being ICEFCOM operatives. These include Lin Yushu, head of the Network Environment Research and Analysis Centre of the “Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command”, Cai Jiehong, team leader of the centre, plus two others.

In a statement the Taiwanese Prime Minister Cho Jung-tai denied China’s allegations, saying MSS had fabricated them “in order to justify their own ongoing cyberattacks against Taiwan.” ICEFCOM said that its operations focus on national defence not cyber attacks on China, claiming that the accusations are aimed at intimidating the Taiwanese people.

Taiwan and China’s have a complex historic relationship which extends to cyberspace and Taiwanese security officials have consistently blamed Chinese hackers for cyber attacks targeting the nation. In return, China accuses Taiwan of conducting cyber operations against the mainland and has recently begun publicly identifying the alleged threat actors behind the attacks.

China first publicly named alleged Taiwanese hackers in 2024 when the MSS reported on Anonymous 64, a purported hacktivist group that China claims is actually operated by Taipei, according to Dakota Cary, a China expert at cyber security firm SentinelOne.

Three Chinese cyber security firms QiAnXin, Antiy and Anheng Information have published separate reports detailing the activities of an alleged Taiwan-linked state threat actor tracked as APT-Q-20. They say that the group has been active since 2006 and has targeted government, military, defence, and scientific research institutions in China to obtain sensitive data.

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