A series of government websites in Taiwan fell victim to DDOS attacks this week. The timing coincides with the visit of Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives.
Nancy Pelosi was met from the plane by Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu. Wu’s ministry forwarded this photo to the news agencies.
During the attack, some websites, such as those of the Taiwanese president, were briefly taken offline. According to the government’s message on Facebook, it concerns DDOS attacks from abroad. As a result, the websites received 200 times more traffic than normal.
The timing of the attack does not seem coincidental. US politician Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan yesterday amid mounting tensions between the US and Taiwan on the one hand and China on the other. The latter considers Taiwan part of its territory and sees Pelosi’s visit to the island’s president as a provocation.
The perpetrators of the DDOS attack are therefore pointed to China. Specifically, according to the Reuters news agency, hacktivists in the country, rather than state hackers.
