China-linked hackers target Taiwan's chip industry

As part of a string of cyber espionage campaigns, Chinese-linked hackers are targeting the Taiwanese semiconductor industry and investment analysts. There has been an alarming increase in sustained hacking campaigns from several China-aligned hacking groups, according to researchers at Proofpoint.

“We’ve seen entities that we hadn’t ever seen being targeted in the past being targeted,” said Mark Kelly, a threat researcher focused on Chinese-related threats at Proofpoint.

 They come amid rising restrictions by Washington on exports to China of U.S.-designed chips that are often manufactured in Taiwan. China's chip industry has been working to replace its dwindling supply of sophisticated U.S. chips, especially those used in artificial intelligence. The previously unreported hacking campaigns were carried out by at least three distinct Chinese-linked groups primarily between March and June of this year.

While the researchers declined to identify the hacking targets, but told Reuters that approximately 15 to 20 organizations ranging from small businesses, analysts employed by at least one U.S.-headquartered international bank, and large global enterprises faced attacks.

A representative of TeamT5, a cybersecurity firm based in Taiwan, told Reuters that it had also seen an increase in emails being sent targeting the semiconductor industry tied to a few hacking groups, “but not a wide or general phenomenon.”