Recent statistics released by the Bkav Technology Group Viet Nam reveal that up to 15 million computers in the country were infected with viruses in the third quarter of this year.

Notably, the main route of infection is through USB drives, accounting for more than 50 per cent of cases.

Explaining the issue, security experts said that USB drives were a popular means backing up data and exchanging data between computers, but the awareness of safe USB use among Vietnamese computer users remains limited.

This has worsened the rate of virus infection via USB and the problem is hard to control. Previously, Bkav reported that up to 83 per cent of USB drives were infected with viruses last year.

To limit the spread of viruses via USB as well as to protect data, technology experts recommend that individual users use antivirus software to scan USB drives before plugging them in and limiting the use of USB drives on public computers.

The explosion of Internet of Things (IoT) and associated devices and technologies has highlighted security issues on devices such as Wi-Fi routers or IP cameras.

Bkav also announced that more than 5.6 million routers around the world had security loopholes last year, and of those, Viet Nam was home to 300,000.

Ngo Tuan Anh, Bkav vice chairman on cyber security, warned that in order to avoid the risk of unauthorised access, users needed to check and change the administrator password for all Internet connected devices and disable features that allow access from external users when not in use.

He also suggested device and service providers notify their customers to change the default password after installing devices. — VNS