The Bkav Technology Group said on 26 July its virus monitoring system had discovered malware called BrowserSpy that is able to track users’ actions and steal their personal data, such as bank account information, and Gmail or Facebook passwords.

The Bkav Technology Group said on 26 July its virus monitoring system had discovered malware called BrowserSpy that is able to track users’ actions and steal their personal data, such as bank account information, and Gmail or Facebook passwords (Illustrative image: news.zing.vn)

According to Bkav, over 560,000 computers in Viet Nam have been monitored by BrowserSpy and this number continues to grow.

Bkav recommends users to immediately remove the virus through anti-virus programmes and change their passwords for digital accounts, including online-banking, email, and social media accounts.

BrowserSpy hides in fake software spread across the Internet by hackers, tricking users into downloading it. Once enabled, BrowserSpy installs a malicious browser add-on to track and monitor user activity. At the same time, the virus can quietly steal personal information from users, accessing search content, e-mails, and web history.

Moreover, BrowserSpy can update and download further malicious codes to control the computer and perform attacks.

Bkav Vice President Vu Ngoc Son said there is no particular symptoms in computers infected with BrowserSpy, and as such it is difficult for users to detect themselves. Bkav has produced an updated anti-virus software to guard against BrowserSpy.

According to the Viet Nam Computer Emergency Response Team (VNCERT), in 2017, Viet Nam was hit by 13,382 cyber attacks, including 6,400 malware, 4,377 defacing and 2,605 phishing attacks. As of 25 June this year, 5,179 attacks had been recorded, comprising of 1,122 phishing, 3,200 defacing, and 857 malware attacks.

(Source: VNA)