Mounting China-linked intrusions deployed against Taiwanese chip sector

Fifteen to 20 medium to large corporations part of Taiwan's semiconductor industry have been targeted by at least three different Chinese-linked threat groups as part of targeted cyberespionage efforts, Reuters reports.

Malicious emails have been leveraged by the groups to facilitate the compromise, with the first using breached Taiwanese university email accounts to inject malware into semiconductor design, manufacturing, and supply chain entities, according to a Proofpoint report. On the other hand, intrusions by the other group involved the impersonation of an investment firm to target Taiwanese semiconductor sector-focused investment firms' analysts. The findings come as Taiwanese cybersecurity firm TeamT5 reported the growing prevalence of phishing attacks against the country's semiconductor sector. Despite being a persistent threat, such attacks against Taiwanese semiconductor firms have not yet been a "general phenomenon," said a TeamT5 representative. Neither TSMC, UMC, Nanya, RealTek, nor MediaTek has commented on Proofpoint's report.