Vietnam denies hacking Chinese organisations for coronavirus information

US cybersecurity firm FireEye believes a Vietnamese hacking group targeted Ministry of Emergency Management and Wuhan government emails

But Vietnam says the accusation is unfounded and it prohibits cyberattacks

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Women wearing face masks ride past the Opera House in Hanoi. The Vietnamese government says it was not behind a cyberattack on Chinese state organisations to obtain coronavirus information. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:19pm, 23 Apr 2020Updated: 9:19pm, 23 Apr 2020

Vietnam on Thursday denied accusations that it had helped a group of hackers to attack government agencies and businesses around the world, including China, the foreign ministry said.

“This accusation is unfounded,” Ngo Toan Thang, deputy spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said at a regular press conference in Hanoi. “Vietnam strictly prohibits cyberattacks targeting organisations and individuals in any form.”

On Wednesday, US cybersecurity firm FireEye said that “Vietnamese Threat Actors APT32" had targeted Wuhan's government and the Chinese Ministry of Emergency Management, calling this the “latest example of Covid-19 related espionage”.

Investigators at FireEye said in a statement on its website that the attack was designed to collect intelligence on the coronavirus crisis.

According to Thang, Vietnam’s National Assembly passed the cybersecurity law in 2018, to strengthen legislation to prevent network attacks.

“Attacks and threats to cybersecurity must be strongly condemned and punished according to the law,” he said.

“Vietnam is ready to cooperate with the international community in combating and preventing cyberattacks in any form,” Thang said.

Investigators at FireEye and other cybersecurity firms said they believe APT32 operates on behalf of the Vietnamese government. The group’s recent activity mirrors attempts by a host of state-backed hackers to compromise governments, businesses and health agencies in search of information about the new disease and attempts to combat it.