Vietnamese websites were hit by a total of 1,504 cyber-attacks in the first two months of 2018 in the forms of Deface, Malware and Phishing, according to the Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Team (VNCERT).

Illustrative image. (Photo: nbcnews.com)

They consisted of 218 Phishing, 962 Deface and 324 Malware attacks, and over two thirds of the websites getting attacks have been fixed.

The team unveiled the information on 7 March in an annual drill to test the response capability of computers security incident response teams from 20 countries and territories in the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Australia, India, Mongolia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and ASEAN member states – many of which are members of the Asia-Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team (APCERT).

The APCERT Cyber Drill 2018, themed ‘Data Breach via Malware on Internet of Things (IoT)’, provided an opportunity for the participating teams to activate and test their incident handling arrangements.

In Viet Nam, the drill took place in Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, with the participation of about 300 IT workers and officials in the VNCERT network, including national state agencies and local governments.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Hung said the IoT not only brings about opportunities but also imposes huge challenges in information safety and security.

Billions of Internet-connected devices receive and share information together with a large number of cyber security vulnerabilities found every day. In the future, hackers may steal all information on the Internet to attack artificial intelligence, robots and industrial production activities, leading to ‘devastating consequences’, Hung added.

VNCERT Deputy Director Nguyen Khac Lich, said the exercise aimed to be ‘as close to a real attack’ as possible. The participants were meant to learn how to collect and verify information, analyse the pattern and behavior of the malware, trace the originator and then build a response, restore the system and warn others of the threats.

(Source: VNA)