Taiwan Detects AI-Assisted Cyberattacks on Government Agencies as New Hacking Threat Emerges
Taiwan has detected a new wave of cyberattacks targeting government agencies that reportedly combined human hackers with AI-assisted tools, raising fresh concerns about the rapidly evolving threat landscape.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs said Thursday that its cybersecurity monitoring teams identified an “abnormal attack” against government agencies in July. Officials said the affected organizations successfully contained and handled the incidents.
The disclosure comes as Taiwan faces persistent cyber pressure that Taipei has increasingly described as part of a broader “hybrid warfare” campaign.
AI Agents Join the Attack
According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs, investigators found that the July attacks showed clear signs of originating from overseas.
What made the incidents particularly notable was the attackers’ use of a hybrid approach combining manual hacking operations with AI-agent-assisted activity.
The ministry specifically referenced tools such as OpenClaw in describing the AI-assisted activity.
Beginning July 20, Taiwan’s National Institute of Cyber Security issued a series of warnings while investigating the attacks.
Authorities said they subsequently examined the attack sources, methods and potential impact and determined that the affected government agencies had completed their response.
Taiwan Strengthens Cyber Defenses
The government said the emergence of AI-assisted attacks has prompted it to establish new protective guidelines and increase cybersecurity monitoring across government systems.
The objective is to identify suspicious activity earlier and prevent attackers from moving deeper into government networks.
The ministry did not identify China as the source of the attacks.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office had not immediately responded to requests for comment.
Taiwan has nevertheless repeatedly accused Beijing of using cyberattacks, disinformation and military pressure as part of a broader campaign against the island.
Millions of Cyberattacks Every Day
The latest incident comes against a backdrop of intense cyber activity targeting Taiwan.
Taiwan’s National Security Bureau said in January that cyberattacks against critical infrastructure—including hospitals and financial institutions—had increased 6% in 2025, reaching an average of approximately 2.63 million attacks per day.
The bureau said some attacks were coordinated with Chinese military exercises, describing them as part of potential hybrid threats designed to disrupt or paralyze critical systems.
Israeli Cybersecurity Firm Reports AI Hacking Campaign
Taiwan’s announcement also follows a report from Israeli cybersecurity company Dream, which said it had uncovered an AI-driven hacking campaign targeting an unnamed Asian government.
Dream said multiple AI agents worked together during a four-day operation to obtain passwords and other sensitive information from government officials.
The company also said the attackers stole personnel records from Taiwan’s justice ministry and scanned Taiwan’s nuclear safety agency for vulnerabilities.
Dream said researchers were able to reconstruct the operation after recovering what it described as the AI agents’ complete operational workspace.
The company did not publicly identify the government targeted in its report. However, the Financial Times, which was reportedly briefed on the findings, identified the affected agencies as Taiwanese.
Why AI-Assisted Hacking Is Different
The development highlights a major shift in cybersecurity.
Traditional cyberattacks often require significant human effort to identify targets, search networks, extract credentials and move between systems.
AI agents could potentially automate or accelerate portions of those processes, allowing attackers to conduct reconnaissance, analyze information and coordinate multiple actions much faster.
That creates a new challenge for governments and businesses: defending against attacks that can adapt and operate at machine speed.
Taiwan’s response suggests authorities are already preparing for this next stage of cyber warfare.
The Bigger Picture
Taiwan is now confronting a cyber environment where attacks are becoming more frequent, sophisticated and potentially AI-assisted.
While officials have not publicly attributed the latest government attacks to China, the incidents underscore how artificial intelligence is changing the cybersecurity battlefield.
The next generation of cyberattacks may not simply be hackers using AI tools—they could be coordinated operations in which AI agents perform much of the work alongside human operators.
And for governments protecting critical infrastructure, that could make early detection and automated defense more important than ever.