More than 220 Vietnamese websites have been compromised allegedly by Chinese hackers since Thursday, local Internet security experts have warned.

But there is no apparent link between these hacking attacks and the ongoing tension off Vietnam’s waters over an illegal Chinese-run oil rig. China has illicitly operated the drilling rig in Vietnamese waters in the East Vietnam Sea since May 1 despite the Southeast Asian country’s strong protests.

The websites, including six operated by province-level government agencies, were attacked between May 8 and 11 by hackers who proclaimed they were Chinese, according to Ngo Tuan Anh, deputy chairman of BKAV, a Hanoi-based Internet security company.

They either suffered from DDoS (Denial of Service) attacks or had their interfaces changed.

A DDoS attack uses compromised computer systems to attack a single target, sending traffic from multiple points of origin in a flow, which often overwhelms a system, causing it to deny authentic traffic access to services.

Attackers also left a signature that reads “By: China Hacked,” messages implying that they are from China, and images related to Vietnam’s sovereignty over the East Vietnam Sea, which China is violating, at the bottom of the sites.

This has caused people to link these attacks to the standoff in the sea, where China is illegally operating drilling rig Haiyang 981 within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.

But Anh appeared cautious, saying people “should not jump to any conclusions.”

“Apart from the messages left by the hackers, we have no proof to say that Chinese hackers are behind these attacks,” he told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

“Citizens, especially those working in Internet security, should remain calm and not take hasty action.”

Anh said the attacks have not caused serious consequences yet since the victims are small-scale enterprises or individuals.

Though the country’s capacity of cyber defense has improved over the last couple of years, there are security loopholes in many local websites that hackers can use for attacks.

In early March of this year, BKAV warned that 40 percent of websites in Vietnam had security vulnerabilities.

Be ready to deal with attacks

In the worst scenario, when Chinese hackers run a large-scale attack on Vietnam’s websites, the country’s Internet system may fail to withstand if there are no effective defensive solutions, Nguyen Hong Phuc, an Internet security expert, warned.

“The system will collapse and all online services will be disrupted,” he said.

Chinese hackers outnumber Vietnamese security experts while most of the businesses and government agencies are not ready for large-scale hacking attacks or cyberwar, Phuc added.

“China has more people working in Internet security than Vietnam,” admitted Vo Do Thang, director of Athena Internet security center.

“If they deliberately carry out cyber attacks against us, the damage will be huge.”

Chinese hackers can also spread malware into the Internet tools and equipment used in Vietnam, as most of them are made in China.

“We cannot predict anything but must be well-prepared for any attacks to come,” Anh, from BKAV, advised. 

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