Taiwan Spy Agency Web Site Hacked

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Taiwan Spy Agency Web Site Hacked China Not Suspected Despite Nations' Hostilities

TAIPEI, Taiwan, Updated 3:03 p.m. EST March 6, 2000 -- Computer hackers have broken into the Web site of Taiwan's state spy agency, but officials have ruled out China as the source of the cyber attack, a security official said Monday. The culprits were local hackers, said Chang Kuang-yuan, chairman of the National Security Bureau.

Nevertheless, Taiwan must still guard against possible Chinese efforts to disrupt Taiwan's March 18 presidential election, he said.

The Web site was attacked for 30 minutes over the weekend, as was the Internet site of ruling Nationalist Party candidate Lien Chan. Chang did not elaborate on the damage done.

Mainland hackers attacked more than 72,000 Taiwanese Web sites last summer, after President Lee Teng-hui enraged Beijing by saying that the two sides should treat each other like equal states, Chang told reporters.

The mainland hackers were able to penetrate the ''firewall'' software used by many government, academic and telecommunications Web sites, he said. The software monitors a computer's connection to the Internet and protects the computer from hacker attacks.

Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949, and Beijing has repeatedly threatened to attack the island. Tensions between the countries are rising as Taiwan prepares to vote for a new president.

http://www.channel2000.com/sh/technology/stories/national-technology-20000306-180338.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), March 06, 2000


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