Taiwan says it was targeted last month in AI-driven hacking campaign
Cybersecurity monitoring units detected an 'abnormal attack' that combined manual operations with AI agent-assisted hacking.
Taiwan reported an AI-assisted cyberattack on government agencies originating from overseas last month, according to the Ministry of Digital Affairs. The attacks, which took place starting July 20, were successfully handled by affected bodies. Chinese cyberattacks on Taiwan's key infrastructure, including hospitals and banks, increased by 6% in 2025 compared to the previous year, reaching an average of 2.63 million daily attacks, according to the National Security Bureau.
The attacks displayed characteristics of a hybrid approach, combining manual operations with AI agent-assisted techniques. The government has since established protective guidelines and strengthened system monitoring to counter such threats. However, no mention of China was made in the statement, and China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not comment on the incident.
This comes a day after an Israeli cybersecurity firm revealed a similar AI-driven hacking campaign against an unnamed Asian government, involving credential theft, personnel records extraction, and vulnerability scanning of critical infrastructure. AI-assisted hacking campaigns have become increasingly common, exacerbated by the release of advanced AI models that can rapidly conduct reconnaissance and exploit vulnerabilities.
Written by urgent.news from Free Malaysia Today's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
Also reported by 4 other outlets
- Taiwan says it was targeted last month in AI-driven hacking campaign al-monitor.com
- Taiwan says it was targeted last month in AI-driven hacking campaign dailymaverick.co.za
- Taiwan says it was targeted last month in AI-driven hacking campaign freemalaysiatoday.com
- Taiwan says it was targeted last month in AI-driven hacking campaign channelnewsasia.com
