Computer viruses caused enormous financial damage to Vietnamese users in 2015, despite users' increased awareness of malicious software programs, a local Internet security firm has said.

Total virus damage last year was calculated at VND8.7 trillion (US$388.39 million), a slight drop from the VND8.5 trillion ($396.12 million) recorded in 2014, Hanoi-based Bkav said on its website, citing findings from a report released on January 11.

The loss was calculated based on the income of the victims and the amount of time their work was disrupted by malware issues, according to the company, known for a popular antivirus program of the same name.

Each computer user in Vietnam lost an average of VND1.25 million ($56) to malicious software in 2015, which means a total loss of VND8.7 trillion given the country’s 6.98 million computers, according to the report.

The real damage could be much bigger as the number of computers, which Bkav cites from Vietnam’s White Book on informatics, computers, and technology, might be outdated, the company noted.

In 2015, there were 62,863 new types of virus created, and Bkav has recorded some 61.7 million virus infections from users across the country.

USB devices remained the biggest source to spread viruses, according to the Bkav report.

As many as 83 percent of respondents to a Bkav survey said they had their USB flash drives infected with malicious software at least once last year. The company did not provide the number of people polled.

“Viruses have propagated in more than 9.1 million computers in Vietnam via USB drives last year, which painted an overall picture of how insecurely the data storage device is being used in the country,” the report reads.

In the meantime, spam Facebook messages, or those with vulgar contents or links to malicious websites, were also on the rise in 2015, according to Bkav.

As many as 93 percent of Vietnamese Facebook users were disturbed by such messages last year, the company said.

In 2015, there were more than 1,000 fake Facebook pages created to swindle users, spread viruses, or steal the personal data of others on a monthly basis.

In the meantime, 5,226 websites, including 340 state-run platforms, were compromised by hackers in 2015.

The Bkav report also noted that computer users in Vietnam in 2015 had heightened their awareness of malicious software and cyberattacks, compared to a year earlier.

Many people no longer thought that they would never fall victim to viruses or hackers, according to the Bkav survey.

“Specifically, 48 percent of respondents said they would only open an attached file via email after confirming with the senders directly by phone or instant message,” it said.

More users have also adapted such security methods as locking their computers when they are out of their desk, or use strong passwords for their devices and Internet accounts, according to the report.

“It is advised that users continue these methods and have an antivirus app for both of their computers and mobile phones,” Bkav quoted its security experts as saying.

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