Mainland police reward tips to capture 20 Taiwan suspects in cyberattack

Chinese mainland police are offering rewards for the capture of 20 major Taiwan suspects involved in a recent cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

The public security bureau in the city's Tianhe district announced on Thursday that after an investigation it was revealed that the cyberattack was carried out by the "Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command" of Taiwan.

According to the bureau, the attack was instigated by Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party, with ICEFCOM acting as an accomplice to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces, sparing no effort in launching cyberattacks against or infiltrating the mainland.

In an effort to crack down on cyber crimes, safeguard national security and protect people's legitimate rights, the bureau has issued a warrant for the capture of the 20 suspects from the ICEFCOM, with their identities disclosed.

The authorities are offering a reward of 10,000 yuan ($1,391) to anyone who provides information leading to their capture, it noted, pledging to keep informants' information confidential.

The bureau released the latest attack on the Guangzhou tech company on May 20, describing it as a large-scale, coordinated assault, with hallmarks of cyber warfare, far beyond the capabilities of ordinary hackers.

On May 27, the bureau announced that the cyberattack was traced to a hacker group affiliated with the DPP, detailing that the group frequently used open-source tools to carry out extensive probes on more than 1,000 critical network systems across over 10 provincial-level regions on the mainland.