London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Oct 04, 2025

US and Taiwan hold first joint cyber-war exercise

US and Taiwan hold first joint cyber-war exercise

Taiwanese officials are being targeted by phishing emails and texts as part of a week-long simulated cyber-war event billed as the first of its kind.

The local government is co-hosting the tests with the American Institute in Taiwan, which represents US interests on the island.

AIT said the focus was threats posed by "North Korea and other actors".

But Taiwan has previously said that most of the cyberattacks it experiences come from mainland China.

"Dealing with such attacks is like fighting a battle every day," a Taiwanese official said last month.

The exercises are set to run until Friday and will involve attempts to hack into government websites by fooling workers into accepting malicious communications. Private companies will also be challenged.

"For Taiwan, mainland China is viewed as one of the main sources of cyber-attacks on the island," commented Veerle Nouwens from the UK-based Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies.

"The director-general of Taiwan's Cyber Security Agency has been quoted as saying that the Taiwanese government's networks receive an estimated 30 million attacks a month, about half of which are suspected to come from China.

"However, irrespective of the originating country, strengthening cyber-security is increasingly a top priority for any government or private sector company."


'Significant risk'


The Cyber Offensive and Defensive Exercises (Code) were officially launched by the AIT's acting director, Raymond Greene, at an event hosted by Microsoft.

He described the tests as marking a "new frontier" in cyber-co-operation between Washington and Taipei.

"The biggest threats today are not troops landing on the beach but efforts by malign actors to use the openness of our societies and networks against us," said Mr Greene.

"In many ways, cyber-threats are the most significant risk affecting all of us."

He added that attackers were seeking to undermine elections, compromise critical infrastructure and cripple financial trade.

Officials from other countries, including Australia, Indonesia and Japan, are also taking part to challenge Taiwan's defences.

The Code drills are based on a separate US-led international computer-attack simulation known as the Cyber Storm exercises, which are held every other year.

According to the Global Taiwan Institute, the island had repeatedly asked to be involved in the last event in spring 2018 but was not invited to do so.

"The announcement that the United States is participating in Taiwan's cyber-drills this year reflects the deepening of US-Taiwan security co-operation and dovetails other efforts under way between the United States and Japan to strengthen cyber-security co-operation," blogged the US-based institute's executive director, Russell Hsiao, last month.

AIT plans to follow up this week's event with a "road show" in 2020, when it intends bring American cyber-security experts to Taiwan to host seminars at its science parks and other tech hubs.

For its part, China has previously accused Taiwan of being involved in its own "infiltration and sabotage activities against the mainland".

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
×