Months-long Internet outage highlights Taiwan's network vulnerabilities

MATSU, Taiwan - For several weeks in February, the local telecommunications office, an unremarkable grey building on the island of Nangan, became its hottest hangout spot. Even after the Chunghwa Telecom outpost shuttered its gates at 9pm, residents would don their jackets and huddle outside with their mobile phones and laptops, braving the cold winds to squat on the steps in the dark. They were there to use its Wi-Fi network to get online. It was an inconvenient but necessary measure after the only two submarine Internet cables to the outlying Taiwanese Matsu archipelago were severed, most likely by Chinese…