A top Google expert claims that Chinese cyberattacks against Taiwan are alarmingly increasing. This was revealed by Google's Threat Analysis Division Senior Engineering Manager Kate Morgan.
She said that they have seen a drastic increase in malicious online attacks conducted by cybercrime groups backed by the Chinese government. Here are other details revealed by the software giant's division tasked with monitoring government-linked hacking campaigns.
Google Expert Claims Chinese Cyberattacks Against Taiwan Alarmingly Increase
A picture taken on October 18, 2021 in Moscow shows the US multinational technology and Internet-related services company Google's logo on a tablet screen.
According to Bloomberg's latest report, Kate Morgan said they have observed a massive spike in Chinese cyberattacks against Taiwan. This alarming increase was seen in the last six months.
She warned that the Chinese government-backed cybercrime organizations could be employing strategies that can add more stealth to their ransomware attacks and other malicious campaigns.
If this is true, then Taiwanese cybersecurity experts will definitely have a hard time tracking them. Among their cyberattack tactics are breaching into internet routers of small Taiwanese residences, as well as offices.
Kate said that Chinese hackers are most likely repurposing these internet devices to conduct their malicious schemes while hiding their true identities.
"The number of groups in China that are performing hacking and trying to get into technology companies or get into cloud customers is huge," said the top Google expert via Channels News.
"I don't have the exact number, but it is probably over 100 groups that we are tracking just out of China alone," she added.
China's Taiwanese Targets Broadening
A participant looks at lines of code on a laptop on the first day of the 28th Chaos Communication Congress (28C3) - Behind Enemy Lines computer hacker conference on December 27, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. The Chaos Computer Club is Europe's biggest network of computer hackers and its annual congress draws up to 3,000 participants.
Aside from the rising cyberattack campaigns, another alarming thing about China's cybercrime operations is its Taiwanese targets are broadening.
Kate Morgan explained that these Chinese online hackers now have a wider focus on why and what they will target. She even claimed that China-backed cyberattackers are now after everything they can breach.
These include the defense sector, the government, and private industry of Taiwan. China allegedly started attacking Taiwan because of its relationship with the United States.
As of writing, the U.S. is considered to be the Asian island's top military backer. However, although the two nations' ties reportedly deteriorated to avoid conflicts, their connection with China was also depleted.
China and Taiwan are still in serious conflict because of numerous issues. These include China's dominance, human rights violations, artificial intelligence competition, etc.
But, the Google expert said that China is not the only threat that Taiwan needs to worry about when it comes to cyberattacks. Other countries should also keep an eye out for Russia, North Korea, and Iran.
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