VNCERT has uncovered APT attacks on government websites in Da Nang. — Photo vietnamnet.vn
The Viet Nam Computer Emergency Response Team (VNCERT) uncovered several advanced persistent threat (APT) attacks on government websites in the central city of Da Nang in late July.
VNCERT found a malicious file exploiting a memory corruption issue in a Microsoft Office document on the People’s Committee of Hai Chau District’s website. Hackers could have infected the city’s administrative units with malware, according to the team.
VNCERT sent a letter to the municipal People’s Committee and Department of Information and Communications to warn of the attack and advise them how to deal with the issue on Wednesday.
“The main purpose of the hackers is to steal confidential information from Da Nang,” the team said in the letter. “It was a sophisticated attack, so the city’s firewalls were not able to detect the problem, allowing the hackers to take control of the computer system,” it added.
In the letter, VNCERT also provided Da Nang with detailed instructions on how to examine and remove this type of malware. It urged the municipal Department of Information and Communications to act on the advice without delay.
VNCERT reported that last year, Viet Nam was hit by 13,382 cyber-attacks, including 6,400 malware, 4,377 deface and 2,605 phishing attacks. Some 5,179 cyber-attacks have been recorded since the beginning of 2018, consisting of 1,122 phishing, 3,200 deface and 857 malware attacks. — VNS