TAIPEI – Taiwan’s military suffered a data leak, according to a local broadcaster, the latest challenge to the democratically run island’s cyber security.

Hackers obtained sensitive documents from Chunghwa Telecom and key Taiwanese national security units, including data from the military and the Foreign Ministry, TVBS reported.

The local broadcaster included a screenshot of an offer by hackers to sell the information, in its story late on Feb 28.

The screenshot indicated that the hackers wanted to offload 1.7 terabytes of internal documents from Taiwan’s biggest telecom operator, and the data contained contracts the company had signed with entities including the government. The report did not say how much money the hackers wanted or where they were based.

Chunghwa Telecom said in an exchange filing on Feb 29 that it had started probing a suspected data leak and reported the case to the government. It added that the incident has had no major impact on its operations, and that it will continue strengthening cyber-security controls.

The firm’s shares fell 0.4 per cent on Feb 29, trimming their gain for the year to 0.4 per cent.

Taiwan’s Defence Ministry and Digital Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Taiwan officials have warned that government agencies and companies are the targets of tens of millions of cyber-attack attempts each month from China, which claims the island as part of its territory and has vowed to bring it under control some day. 

Cyber-security experts at Alphabet’s Google warned in 2023 that China was responsible for a “massive increase” in cyber attacks on Taiwan.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen also said at the time that the island “is facing mounting military intimidation, grey-zone campaigns, cyber attacks and information manipulation”. BLOOMBERG