Police arrest man over AI data theft in Kaohsiung

Police in Kaohsiung yesterday said they have arrested a man in connection with the alleged theft of more than 230,000 pieces of personal information using an automated hacking program developed with generative artificial intelligence (AI).

The suspect, a port worker surnamed Lin (林), is believed to have used the program to steal membership and customer information from Web sites in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Thailand, which he later allegedly sold on the dark Web, the Kaohsiung City Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Corps told a news conference.

Two government agencies, two private publishers and a senior citizens’ talent class were among those allegedly targeted by Lin, local media reports said.

The words “AI Hacking” and PHP code are displayed on a screen in this illustration taken on Oct. 22.

Photo: Dado Ruvic, Reuters

Police reported the case to the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office and expanded the investigation with the Criminal Investigation Bureau’s High-Tech Crime Center.

They searched Lin’s residence last month and arrested him, seizing high-performance computer equipment, cloud storage devices, network switches and other evidence.

After questioning, Lin was referred to prosecutors on suspicion of offenses against computer security and released on NT$30,000 bail.

The Criminal Investigation Corps warned that generative AI and AI agents lower the technical threshold for computer programming and could be easily abused by criminals.

It urged government agencies, businesses and Web site operators to routinely update their systems, conduct cybersecurity checks and vulnerability scans, and encrypt and back up important information.