[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] The online messenger LINE accounts of over 100 senior Taiwanese officials and politicians were hacked. There are also suspicions that the hackers originated from China.
Taiwanese media outlets such as Liberty Times reported on the 28th that Taiwan LINE confirmed last week that the LINE messages of government officials and politicians from both ruling and opposition parties were leaked externally. After a thorough investigation, it was found that the LINE accounts of over 100 people had been hacked.
Among the hacked individuals were senior officials from the Taiwanese Presidential Office and Executive Yuan, as well as members of the Taiwanese military, local government heads, and politicians from both ruling and opposition parties. The hacking reportedly occurred not only on Android phones but also on iPhones.
LINE is the "national messenger" used by about 21 million out of Taiwan's approximately 23.5 million population. LINE has provided a detailed briefing to Taiwan's National Security Council (NSC) regarding this incident and is rushing to implement countermeasures, including strengthening protection features related to the hacked LINE messages.
Taiwanese media stated, "The use of Pegasus spyware developed by the Israeli private security company NSO Group and insider involvement within LINE are not ruled out," adding that "national security agencies will investigate."
Liberty Times said, "Since the hacking attack targeted specific individuals, it is not a simple hacker," raising the possibility of hackers originating from China.
LINE stated in response, "After detecting an abnormality in the system the previous day, we immediately took action to protect users and reported the incident to relevant authorities."
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