The Authority of Information Security under the Ministry of Information and Communications has warned of two security breaches that exist in Remote Desktop Services of the Windows operation system (OS).

According to the authority, the two breaches may allow hackers to attack from distance, install malware and take control of the internet-connected computers.

If one computer on the network is bugged, malware may infect other computers on the network automatically.

Data from the authority shows that more than 22,000 computers in Viet Nam use Remote Desktop Protocol to connect to the internet. If the computers’ OS is not patched, those computers will become the ideal targets for hackers.

Other breaches have also been discovered by Microsoft – the developer of Windows. Microsoft has issued patches for those breaches.

To make sure the network and computers in it are secure, the authority has asked agencies, organisations and businesses to update their computers with the latest patches.

Users should have strong passwords for their computers and accounts and keep storing their key data on the server. Network operators must keep monitoring the network system to discover attacks and should ask for assistance from the authority if needed.

Viet Nam was one of the top 10 countries for internet attacks and hacks in the first half of the year, experts said during a seminar on August 14.

That comes from the fact that Vietnamese users don’t patch and update their OS and they often get free access to unlicensed applications, which increases the risks of being hacked and infected, said Do Viet Thang, deputy director of the Centre for Information, Technology and Internet Security under the Government Cipher Committee.

Attacks via email are also common, he said. On July 29, there were 15,000 attacks through illegal unlocking apps and 42,000 attacks through spam emails.

Spam emails seem harmless because computer users often treat them as advertisements, but they are in fact bugged with malware and disguised as fake documents to help hackers attack the network, he added.

Government officials and employees often don’t keep their account passwords updated, which means their passwords are easily taken when clicking spam emails, Thang added.

According to Kenzo Masamoto, director of the technology firm Macnica Networks and consultant to the Japanese government, the number of scam emails is increasing.

Hackers can easily get access to office email accounts by using open-source intelligence tools (OSINT) to spy and take over email accounts. They can use those accounts to fake money transfers and the solution for this is users should learn measures to secure their accounts. — VNS