Vietnam Hackers Target The Chinese Government For Information On CO.VID-19

Public health officials and governments around the world are sharing information on what to do to handle the CO.VID-19 pandemic, and some governments are obtaining the data using special ways.

Government-backed hackers in Vietnam have been targeting the Chinese government to collect data on how China has been tackling the pandemic, according to a Wednesday report from researchers at FireEye cybersecurity firm.

Specifically, the attacks targeted the Ministry of Emergency Management and government officials in Wuhan, China, where the epidemic is believed to originate. The first hacking attempt was spotted on January 6, 2020, just one day after WHO published the first warning about the CO.VID-19 outbreak.

As reported by FireEye cybersecurity researchers, the attack involved an email containing a tracking link to a report on office equipment bids. In the link, there was code that would alert the hackers when someone opened the email, meaning the targeted victim might be tricked to click on the malware.

These attacks are similar to hacking campaigns by the Vietnamese government, the report said. The researchers said that the attacks started at least in January and have been going on until April. The Vietnamese embassy did not respond immediately to a request for comment. FireEye’s report says:

“The COVID-19 crisis poses an intense, existential concern to governments, and the current air of distrust is amplifying uncertainties, encouraging intelligence collection on a scale that rivals armed conflict. Until this crisis ends, we anticipate related cyber espionage will continue to intensify globally.”

Meanwhile, the US has accused China of hiding information about the pandemic. According to the Trump administration statement in February, the White House does not have confidence in the CO.VID-19 information from China. The Chinese embassy did not respond immediately to a comment request. The lack of trust could be the reason why some governments chose to hack information instead of cooperating.

Vietnam has been praised for its quick response to the outbreak of CO.VID-19 since its first known case on January 23.

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