Internet users in Vietnam faced up to 4,035 cyber attacks in the first five months of this year, according to the Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Team (VNCERT) under the Ministry of Information and Communications.
Among the figure, up to 2,661 were hacked; 766 were malware attacks and 608 were phishing attacks.
VNCERT said that in 2017, Vietnamese internet users suffered from 13,382 cyber attacks with malware and hacking attacks accounting for the majority.
Earlier this year, up to 41,000 computers in Vietnam were affected by the video_3622.zip virus through Facebook Messenger. When internet users click on the link they will be directed to a site where the virus would be downloaded onto their computer.
The biggest danger of this new virus is that hackers could use the victim’s friend list to continue spreading.
Another case more than 139,000 computers in Vietnam were attacked by the W32.AdCoinMiner virus.
At Security World 2018, Hoang Phuoc Thuan, Head of the Department of Network Security at the Ministry of Public Security, said that every year, authorities found dozens of state secrets had been leaked on the internet. He, however, added that the real figure may be much higher than the reported figure as many cases have not yet been detected.
VNCERT also reported that over VND12.3 trillion (USD547 million) in damage was caused by computer viruses in Vietnam occurred last year, an increase from VND10.4 trillion in 2016.
Source: Dtinews