Former Ambulance Driver Arrested for Hacking Taiwan’s 119 Emergency System, Selling Real-Time Data to Funeral Companies

In a case that raises alarming concerns about cybersecurity and ethics in Taiwan’s emergency response infrastructure, the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office has detained a man surnamed Pan (潘), a former private ambulance driver, for hacking into the country’s 119 emergency dispatch system and illegally selling sensitive, real-time information to funeral service providers.

Hacking into Emergency Infrastructure

According to investigators from the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau, Pan had accessed the mobile dispatch systems and emergency medical systems used by the Kaohsiung City Fire Department over the course of more than four years. Beginning in 2022, he allegedly extracted and sold data such as caller times, incident addresses, case types, and GPS coordinates. He used this data to help funeral companies quickly reach scenes of emergencies — in some cases even before ambulances arrived — to secure potential clients.

Investigators say Pan was not operating alone. He reportedly built a cloud-based delivery platform that transmitted real-time data using a mobile phone as a proxy server, allowing him to distribute the information to multiple funeral businesses across 21 counties and cities in Taiwan. Each business allegedly paid Pan monthly fees ranging from several thousand to tens of thousands of NT dollars to receive the information.

How It Worked

Using tools like Google Maps and even live-streamed surveillance footage from public and private feeds, these funeral firms monitored emergency dispatch data to determine where serious incidents — such as accidents, suicides, or sudden deaths — had occurred. They would then immediately send sales staff to the scene to solicit funeral services. In multiple instances, these representatives arrived ahead of first responders, handing out business cards or offering help to shocked families.

This unethical advantage, according to prosecutors, allowed the implicated funeral companies to gain an estimated 5 to 10 additional services per month, significantly increasing their revenue while undermining the dignity and privacy of emergency response procedures.

System Breaches and Official Response

In the summer of 2024, Taiwan’s 119 system experienced repeated disruptions due to abnormal external connections. The National Fire Agency and Kaohsiung City Fire Department took steps to limit data access and monitor connections but were unsuccessful in halting the breaches, which investigators say continued due to the sophisticated methods used by Pan.

Pan’s unauthorized access to the system reportedly resulted in over 30 million illicit system connections annually, making this one of the largest cybersecurity breaches of a public emergency system in Taiwan’s history.

The Kaohsiung District Court approved the prosecutor’s request to detain Pan without bail, citing risks of evidence destruction and flight. He is being investigated for violations of Taiwan’s Criminal Code related to computer security, and additional charges may arise as the probe widens.

Implications for Public Trust and Privacy

This incident has highlighted vulnerabilities in Taiwan’s critical emergency infrastructure, raising questions about how data is secured and who has access to it. It also points to an emerging ethical crisis in Taiwan’s funeral industry, where commercial competition may be incentivizing illegal data acquisition and privacy violations.

The Ministry of Justice has vowed to enhance oversight and coordinate with the Ministry of Digital Affairs to strengthen cybersecurity protocols. Legislators are now calling for a nationwide audit of emergency data systems and stricter regulations on the commercial use of dispatch data.

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