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Chinese cyberattacks on Taiwan hit 2.6 million a day: report

Chinese cyberattacks targeting Taiwan’s key infrastructure rose by 6% in 2025 to an average of 2.6 million daily incidents, according to the island’s National Security Bureau.

The bureau reported that sectors such as energy, emergency services, and hospitals saw the largest year-on-year rises in attacks.

Some cyberattacks were timed with Chinese military drills and political events, suggesting coordinated efforts to disrupt or paralyse Taiwan’s government and social functions.

The report said attacks included distributed denial-of-service and man-in-the-middle techniques, targeting critical sectors and aiming to steal information.

Science parks that support Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, including companies like TSMC, were also heavily targeted.

China’s government denies involvement in hacking activities.

🔗 Source: Reuters

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Attack volumes alone don’t reveal Taiwan’s actual operational disruptions

  • Daily tallies cover attempts, not confirmed breaches. The National Security Bureau (NSB) did not share how many worked or caused hospital downtime or grid disruption 1.
  • With no split between successful intrusions and blocked attempts readers can’t judge whether defenses hold or whether critical infrastructure faces operational risk 1.
  • The energy sector saw a 1,000% jump in attacks, and at least 20 ransomware incidents (malicious software that encrypts data, then demands payment) hit major hospitals in 2025. Some penetrations likely succeeded, yet the report omits details on service interruptions, data theft scale, or recovery timelines 2.
  • This gap matters for supply chain partners and investors who track Taiwan’s semiconductor resilience, since production delays or intellectual property (IP) theft can ripple through global tech networks 3. Science parks, industrial zones that cluster chipmakers with their suppliers, were prime targets for technology theft 3.

Rising threat levels may drive procurement in Taiwan’s critical sectors

  • The NSB named four tactics 2. These are vulnerability exploitation and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS). They also cover social engineering plus supply chain attacks 2. These tie to DDoS mitigation and operational technology security 2. They also align with managed security operations for communications, transmission, and healthcare 2.
  • Public procurement trackers list active 2026 tenders in Taiwan, including endpoint attack defense services, which signals ongoing cybersecurity buying 4.
  • The Phase Seven National Cyber Security Development Program (2025-2028) will strengthen critical infrastructure resilience and grow Taiwan’s cybersecurity industry base 5. That means sustained government spending and partnership openings 5.
  • Vendors in vulnerability management, supply chain security, or AI-powered threat detection can find buyers as Taiwan tackles the four tactics in the report 2.

Recent TSMC developments

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