Vietnam Daily News

Six million new viruses attack computers

Written by Dailynews.vn Saturday, 14 January 2012 06:46

Computer viruses are on the rise in Vietnam, according to the country's leading internet security firm BKAV.

The firm noted about 64.2 million virus attacks on computers last year, a 10 percent rise over the previous year.

The figure represents an average of 175 attacks per day, the Hanoi-based company said.

As many as 38,961 new virus strains emerged in Vietnam last year, with the W32.Salaty.PE malware being one of the most destructive, with about 4.2 million attacks registered by the malware on computers across the nation.

This malicious programme infects files on the victim's device and is designed to allow unauthorised users to download and launch other malware on the computer.

Meanwhile, at least 2,240 websites of agencies and enterprises in Vietnam were attacked by both domestic and foreign hackers, according to BKAV.

BKAV last May reported on many cases of Yahoo! Messenger accounts coming into the control of hackers. These hijacked accounts are then used to swindle the victim's friends.

These attacks aim to fool users of accounts into clicking on a link in a message.

The hackers use the stolen YM accounts to chat with people on the victim's friend lists, telling them that their friend is in trouble and needs help in the form of a prepaid phone card and its activation code.

June 2011 was considered as the ‘hottest month' for the Internet security community with a record high number of attacks on websites in Vietnam.

Nearly 200 websites on the same server, including the Binh Duong provincial Finance Department site, were attacked in June./.

Source: en.vietnamplus.vn/Home/Six-million-new-viruses-attack-computers/20121/23581.vnplus