Taipei, March 9 (CNA) Nine schools in Hualien, eastern Taiwan, have been attacked since February by hackers threatening to destroy their computer systems unless they make a payment of eight bitcoin, worth more than NT$300,000 (US$9,680), Hualien County Government said Thursday.

The county's education department said printers at the nine schools, including Yuli Junior High School, Fengpin Junior High School and Beipu Elementary School, repeatedly printed a threatening message in English demanding the schools make the payment or suffer the consequences.

The education department has instructed the schools to install passwords on their printers and buy anti virus software to block cyber attacks.

Hualien police bureau said they sent officials to the schools to learn more about the situation.

Although no payments have apparently been made, to date no school has reported damage to computer systems or information leaks, they said.

The bureau urged schools that are attacked not to panic, instructing them to keep a record of the attack and report to police and the Ministry of Education.

According to statistics provided by the ministry, at least 55 schools have been attacked by hackers demanding payments in bitcoin since the beginning of the year. So far the police have been unable to determine whether the attacks are the work of one group or a concerted attack by different groups.

Local police and the Criminal Investigation Bureau have launched an investigation into the matter, it said.

(By Lee Hsien-fon and Lilian Wu)
Enditem/AW