A Taiwanese hacking group known as Anonymous 64 has been targeting mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau with cyberattacks, according to China’s national security ministry.
In a statement released on Monday, the ministry urged netizens to report incidents of “anti-propaganda sabotage.”
Since the start of this year, Anonymous 64—identified by the ministry as part of Taiwan’s cyber warfare division—has aimed to upload and disseminate content that disparages the mainland’s political system and key policies through various platforms, including websites, outdoor screens, and television broadcasts.
Taiwan frequently accuses Chinese groups of spreading disinformation and conducting cyberattacks against the democratically governed island. China, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan, has intensified military and political pressure in recent years to assert its claims.
Anonymous 64 announced its formation in June 2023 via its X account, showcasing screenshots of efforts to air videos that compare Chinese President Xi Jinping to an emperor. These videos marked the second anniversary of protests against Beijing’s stringent COVID measures and commemorated the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations.
One of the videos featured a member of Anonymous 64 wearing the iconic Guy Fawkes mask associated with the group, reminiscent of the graphic novel and film V for Vendetta.
Neither the X account nor the blog post from China’s national security ministry clarified whether Anonymous 64 has any ties to the broader international hacking group. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council has yet to provide a comment on the matter.
Reuters was unable to verify the group’s location or the authenticity of the hacking attacks it has been accused of executing. In its blog post on WeChat, China’s most popular social media platform, the national security ministry claimed its investigation revealed that many of the websites Anonymous 64 claimed to have accessed were either fake or received little to no traffic.
The ministry also alleged that the group’s posts depicting successful infiltrations of various university and media sites had been manipulated.
The security ministry published heavily redacted screenshots from the group’s X account and announced it had opened cases against three members of Taiwan’s cyber warfare unit. The blog post concluded with a call for netizens to avoid spreading rumors and to promptly report any cyberattacks or anti-propaganda activities to national security authorities.
