The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s (TSMC) founder and chairman’s personal details were leaked after an airline database was hacked and information posted online. The hack part of efforts by a group to blackmail the company. According to media reports, once the airline contacted the authorities, the details were posted in a forum. China Airlines has confirmed the breach, and it has also outlined that after cross-referencing some of the leaked information with its records, the company found some discrepancies.
TSMC Founder, Executive Among High Profile Individuals Part Of Airline Database Leak
Details from the Taiwanese press reveal that China Airlines, which is the state-owned national carrier of the People’s Republic of China (Mainland China), witnessed its membership database breached by a hacker group. This database contained details of a wide variety of both domestic and international high-profile figures, with the list covering politicians, businesspeople and media celebrities. The hackers did not ask the airline for a ransom, but they encouraged the affectees to file lawsuits with regulatory bodies to ensure that China Airlines complies with data protection laws, including those in the European Union and pays the affectees compensation. According to the United Daily News (UDN), China Airlines issued a statement yesterday which confirmed the breach. It also outlined that while it cannot confirm the source of the leaked data, it has performed preliminary investigations into the matter. These have revealed that not all of the leaked details match the information that is already present in the airline’s database. This has made China Airlines speculate that perhaps the source of the leak came from somewhere else. Crucially, according to the hackers, they have details for a whopping three million customers, and they will continue to periodically release the details to confirm the authenticity of the information. Reports also suggest that TSMC’s founder and former chief executive officer Dr. Morris Chang and its current chairman Dr. Mark Liu are among those whose details were leaked following the hack. Other high-profile people who saw their details shared on the Internet are the Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.,’s (Foxconn) founder Terry Gou, Foxconn vice president Lai Qingde, MediaTek chairman Ming-Kai Tsai and head of Delta Electronics Hai Yingjun. The breach also includes high-powered politicians such as Taiwan’s vice president Lai Ching-te, Minister for Transportation Wang Kwo-Tsai, Minister for Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu and Taiwan’s Deputy Representative to the U.S., Hsiao Bi-Khim. Not only were politicians and corporate professionals targeted by the breach, but celebrities were also affected. Some of these are model and actress Lin Chi-Ling, singer Vivian Hsu, actress Cheryl Yang, journalist Clara Chou and politician turned broadcaster Jaw Shaw-Kong. In response to the breach, China Airlines says that it has checked all its systems to ensure there are no security flaws present and that it has also emailed its members asking them to change their passwords regularly. It added that the leaked information cannot be redistributed without breaking the law. Regulatory bodies have asked the airline to conduct a thorough security review of its systems to prevent such an incident from occurring again, and the airline had received correspondence from the hackers informing it of the breach earlier this month.
