TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Hackers are sending deceptive messages to government employees in an attempt to obtain passwords for their email accounts, Tuesday (November 16) reported.

According to the National Information and Communication Security Taskforce (NICST, 行政院國家資通安全會報) October report, hackers are sending emails to officials telling them that use of their email accounts will be suspended. The messages are linked to phishing sites with the aim of discovering the government user’s email account passwords and possibly obtaining confidential information, CNA reported.

During the month of October, 50,545 hacker threats were directed against Taiwanese government users, 45% of which consisted of attacks on websites and 25% of analytical techniques to collect information about the computer network.

As part of the phishing scheme, hackers posing as official email system operators would attempt to persuade government employees that their email password or account was about to expire, by asking them for a New Password. Officials have already received guidance on how to recognize and counter these tactics, according to the report.