Cyberattacks on Taiwan’s hospitals, banks, energy facilities, and other critical infrastructure rose 6% in 2025 compared with the previous year, the island’s National Security Bureau reported on Sunday, averaging 2.63 million attacks per day. Some of the incidents were synchronized with Chinese military drills, reflecting what Taipei describes as a strategy of “hybrid warfare” designed to disrupt government functions and paralyze society.
The bureau said the number of daily attacks has jumped 113% since 2023, when it first began publishing such data. Energy, emergency rescue, and healthcare sectors experienced the sharpest increases, while Taiwan’s semiconductor hubs, including science parks housing companies such as TSMC, were targeted with sophisticated cyber intrusions aimed at stealing advanced technology. Officials said these attacks support China’s goal of technological self-reliance and reinforce its position in the U.S.-China tech competition.
The report highlighted that China’s “cyber army” often timed operations to coincide with military pressure and politically sensitive moments. In 2025, cyberattacks escalated during 23 of 40 “joint combat readiness patrols” involving Chinese planes and ships near the island. Attacks also spiked during events such as President Lai Ching-te’s first-year speech in May and Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s address at the European Parliament in November.
Taiwan’s National Security Bureau described the Chinese operations as a deliberate attempt to compromise infrastructure comprehensively. Methods included distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks to disrupt daily life and man-in-the-middle attacks to penetrate telecommunications networks and steal sensitive information.
China routinely denies involvement in cyberattacks and claims Taiwan as its own territory, refusing to rule out force to bring the island under its control. Taipei, in contrast, maintains that only its people can decide their future. The Taiwanese report concludes that Beijing’s cyber strategy is part of a broader hybrid-threat campaign combining military, political, and technological pressure to strengthen China’s influence and capacity while weakening Taiwan’s resilience.
