Hackers capitalising on COVID-19 to launch cyberattacks, ministry warns
Some hacker groups have taken advantage of the COVID-19 outbreak’s complex developments in many countries to launch cyberattacks against agencies and organisations around the world, including those in Vietnam, said the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) on March 19.
The properties of the malware containing file (Photo: screenshot)
Hanoi (VNA) –Some hacker groups have taken advantage of the COVID-19 outbreak’s complexdevelopments in many countries to launch cyberattacks against agencies andorganisations around the world, including those in Vietnam, said the Ministryof Public Security (MPS) on March 19.
The ministry noted that its department for cybersecurity and hi-tech crime prevention and control has discovered a cyberattackcampaign which spreads malware via emails with coronavirus-related information.
Those emails contain an attached file titled“Chi Thi cua Thu tuong nguyen xuan phuc.lnk” in disguise as Prime MinisterNguyen Xuan Phuc’s directive on the anti-COVID-19 work.
When users download and open this file, themalware, which only runs on computers using the Windows operating systems, willbe activated and more malware will infect their computers, enabling hackers tosteal data and continue further attacks, according to the MPS.
It recommended internet users be wary ofclicking on strange links or downloading or opening files from unknownsources.
They are also advised to install licensedantivirus softwares for their computers and security updates for operatingsystems and softwares. In case such suspicious files are opened, they shoulddisconnect from the internet and liaise with cyber-security incident responseteams to deal with the problem, the MPS added./.
Vietnam did not suffer from any cyber attacks that caused extensive impact or serious problems during the traditional Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications.
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The number of detections of web threats in Vietnam fell by more than 30 per cent last year compared to 2018, with 75 million different Internet-borne cyberthreats, according to Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) 2019.
There were 288 cyber attacks targeting Vietnamese websites in February, up 1.8 percent compared to the previous month, according to a report of the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC).
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The properties of the malware containing file (Photo: screenshot) 
