Philippines, Taiwan Conflict Results in Cyber Firefight

In a familiar looking cyber conflict over sovereignty claims in the South China Sea, hackers from Taiwan and the Philippines have been exchanging fire since the death of a Taiwanese fisherman in May in an incident with the Philippines Coast Guard.

It’s the latest incident that suggests: where there is social or political conflict, a cyber attack will follow.

This is not the first time that Filipino hackers have mobilized around the disputed region. A similar website defacement campaign occurred last April over a political standoff related to sovereignty claims from both the Filipino and Chinese governments.

If your more interested in the social workings and relationships of hacktivist groups rather than geopolitics, although we’d suggest that they’re now often intertwined, it’s curious to note history of the Filipino cyber organizations embroiled in this latest conflict.

The organization Pinoy Vendetta, founded by 4ntipatika, reportedly defaced Taiwanese government sites in retaliation to hacks by Anonymous Taiwan. Interesting to see that in the above network, which shows connections to prominent Filipino hackers and hacktivist groups, the close affiliations between those groups in the Philippines with the umbrella Anonymous organization.

Yet another indication that the Anonymous flag is one that can be flown by many different parties, sometimes those that are very much in opposition depending on the day.

More to come next week on the expectation that cyber attacks will emerge out of social and political conflicts.

For further information on the Recorded Future web intelligence tools used in this post, visit Recorded Future’s Cyber Threat Intelligence page