The Da Nang branch of the Viet Nam Computer Emergency Response Team (VNCERT) has issued a warning about malicious code attacks on local government agencies. Malicious software has attacked computers in some government departments, according to VNCERT.

Therefore, VNCERT has urged the city authorities to promptly carry out the task of tracking, blocking, and deleting malicious files aimed at stealing important information from government agencies.

It said the hackers made sneaky probes into the attacked entities. They had used hi-tech measures to bypass cyber security systems, sought to seize control of users’ computers, and get into other computer systems containing important information.

In addition, VNCERT urged the municipal Department of Information and Communications to take immediate measures to detect and prevent such targeted attacks, which could disseminate malicious codes to steal the city’s data and destroy its information systems.

Special heed should be paid to monitoring, and blocking any connections to such IP addresses and domains as impresstravel.ga, dulichculao.com, dulichbiendao.com, vietbaotinmoi.com and sggpnews.com.

Alongside, it is also necessary for the local government agencies to scrutinise their IT systems, and remove their directories and files containing malicious codes,

The 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.