Taiwan's foreign ministry found Chinese-linked code inside software installed on computers at its overseas missions, a security scare that prosecutors are now treating as a criminal case.

• A Taipei tech company is accused of winning a ministry contract with asset-management software containing Chinese source code.
• Prosecutors searched 10 locations and questioned four people, including the head of the firm that developed the code.
• The ministry says it caught the problem itself during a routine security check and found no suspicious connections from its missions abroad.
• Files in the software carried the digital signature of a Guangzhou-based Chinese tech firm.
• The ministry says the affected computers handled asset tracking, not sensitive information.

Outlook: The investigation continues, and the ministry says it will hold the contractor liable under the contract if wrongdoing is confirmed.