Taiwan says government agencies targeted in AI-assisted cyberattack from overseas

Cyberattack on Taiwan govt agencies

Taiwan’s government agencies were targeted in an overseas cyberattack last month, with hackers using both conventional methods and AI agents to probe systems and sensitive data. The ministry of digital affairs said the affected agencies had successfully “handled” the incident.Taiwan’s cybersecurity monitoring units detected an “abnormal attack” against government agencies in July. From July 20, Taipei’s National Institute of Cyber Security issued a series of alerts as authorities investigated the incident and assessed its scope.The ministry said the investigation found “clear characteristics of an overseas source”, with the attackers using a hybrid method that combined manual operations with AI agent-assisted attacks, including Open Claw.“The relevant attack sources, methods, and scope of impact have all been fully investigated, and the affected units have successively completed their handling,” the ministry said.Taiwan did not identify the country from which the attacks originated and did not directly accuse China. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The incident comes as Taipei has increasingly warned of what it describes as Chinese “hybrid warfare”, including cyberattacks, disinformation and military activity around the island. Beijing claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has stepped up military and political pressure on Taipei in recent years.Reuters reported that Chinese cyberattacks targeting Taiwan’s key infrastructure including hospitals and banks, rose 6 per cent in 2025 to an average of 2.63 million attacks a day, according to Taiwan’s National Security Bureau. It said the island faced an average of 2.63 million attacks a day, with some incidents occurring alongside Chinese military drills.The bureau described the coordinated activity as part of “hybrid threats” aimed at potentially disrupting or paralysing Taiwan.Taiwan’s disclosure came a day after Israeli cybersecurity company Dream said it had uncovered an AI-driven hacking campaign targeting an unnamed Asian government.Dream said multiple AI agents worked together over four days to obtain passwords from officials, steal personnel records from Taiwan’s justice ministry and scan its nuclear safety agency for vulnerabilities.The company said it reconstructed the operation after recovering the agents’ “complete operational workspace”. Dream declined to identify the government or provide the underlying data when approached by Reuters. The Financial Times, which was first briefed on the findings, identified the targeted agencies as Taiwanese.The reports point to a wider shift in how cyber operations can be conducted, with AI increasingly being used to automate reconnaissance, identify vulnerabilities and assist with attacks.Cris Thomas, a security advocate at code security company Semgrep, told Reuters that the campaign showed how quickly AI-assisted hackers could operate but cautioned against describing such attacks as entirely autonomous.Taiwan said it has responded by introducing new protective guidelines and strengthening cybersecurity monitoring across government agencies.