TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Cybersecurity firm Trellix reported 4,300 cyberattacks on Jan. 12, just 24 hours before Taiwan’s election, per CNA.
In a report published on Feb. 13, Trellix threat intelligence analyst Anne An said, “Trellix telemetry detected a spike in activity targeting organizations in Taiwan 24 hours before Taiwan’s presidential election on January 13, 2024.”
“Specifically, malicious cyber activity rose significantly from 1,758 detections on Jan. 11 to over 4,300 on Jan. 12, 2024, the highest detection since the prior month of December 2023,” she added.
However, An explained that Taiwan does not use electronic voting. Votes are cast in person, meaning cyber hacking is unlikely to significantly affect the election infraction, she said.
A likely reason for such attacks could be “kompromat,” or the strategy of collecting damaging information on a political opponent, she explained.
The report also said that the attacks focused on government offices, local police departments, and financial institutions. The attackers were likely after police reports and bank statements, it claimed.
An also said it could be China “going in with a last effort, trying to dig in the financial information, the policing records and the government internal communications, trying to figure out if there’s anything they can grab,” per VOA.
Speaking about the future, An warned that similar tactics could be used in the U.S. elections this year.
