Taiwan's presidential website hit by a cyberattack shortly before Pelosi's visit

The website of Taiwan’s presidential office was hit by a cyberattack right before the US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei.

Taiwan Presidential Office spokesperson Chang Tun-Han announced that on Tuesday, the official presidential website was hit by an overseas DDoS attack, consisting of 200 times more traffic to the website than normal. The incident took place a few hours ahead of Pelosi’s landing.

Normal operations were resumed within 20 minutes.

“Zhang Dunhan said that in the face of continuous compound information operations by foreign forces, government agencies will continue to strengthen monitoring to maintain national information and communication security and the stable operation of key infrastructure,” a Presidential spokesperson said on Facebook.

According to reports, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the website of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, where Pelosi’s plane landed, were also affected during the same time span. They got restored shortly, as well.

The attack came ahead of US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei, which, as the Chinese government warned, will have serious consequences. Shortly after Pelosi’s arrival, China announced joint air and sea drills near Taiwan.

Tensions in the region have been on the rise since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rose to power in 1949.