International firms and media companies were attacked by hackers

Over the past three years, cooperate companies, oversees governments, and journalists have been attacked by a group of hackers which was aligned with Vietnamese government interests. The reports state that at least 10 separate attacks from the group have been identified. The targets included the private and public sector organizations from across U.S., China, Germany, Philippines, U.K., and Vietnam itself.

Some really classy procedures were used by the hackers group to spread the malware. On enabling, this malware allowed remote access to devices as well as files on a host machine. This meant opening up of private information to hackers. The report states that one of the incidents, an undisclosed European corporation was compromised before developing a manufacturing facility in Vietnam. Some of the other attacks were made against companies and Vietnamese journalists who had plans to expand in the country.

Although no direct link has been established between the hackers and the Vietnamese government but it is clear from the nature of attacks and the analysis of the targets. The accessed personal details by the APT32 from various organizations would be of a very little use to any other party than the Vietnamese government. But the timing of the APT32’s intrusions appears to match with engagements of its victims with the Vietnamese government. But all such claims have been denied by the Vietnamese government and according to a spokesman, the government does not allow any kind of attacks against organizations or individuals. The government condemns all such actions and all responsible people will be punished according to the rules of the government.

According to analysts, the Vietnamese adoption of cyber-attack is indicative of a bigger trend among smaller nations who seek an edge against other governments. It may be targeting international rivals in order to aid national businesses.

For the information security industry, past few days have been pretty hectic. According to the report, these findings are not linked to the recent wave of global cyber-attack which seems to be triggered by a group who is responsible for leaking details of NSA hacking tools. It is believed to have affected almost one hundred of the countries.

Via: Tech Crunch