DDoS attacks hit Taiwanese websites ahead of Pelosi visit

NBC News reports that four Taiwanese websites including those of President Tsai Ing-wen, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the National Defense Ministry, and the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have suffered intermittent outages as a result of distributed denial-of-service attacks ahead of the visit of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the country, which has been opposed by China. Indications of a DDoS attack were present on the impacted websites, according to Kentik Director of Internet Analysis Doug Madory. "Big enough to be effective but not record-breaking," said Madory regarding the intrusion. Meanwhile, Mandiant Vice President John Hultquist noted that hacktivists may be behind the DDoS attacks, as Chinese state-sponsored actors had significantly higher odds of leaning toward conducting cyberespionage operations. "It is a way that nationalists of any background can express themselves. It doesnt necessarily indicate any kind of broader coordination or any state actor," said Hultquist. There has also been no evidence linking the DDoS attacks to Pelosi's visit so far, he added.