Government issues warning on router-hacking virus

Illustrative image. The VPNFilter virus has affected over 500,000 routers and storages in many countries, including Việt Nam.

— Photo vov.vn

The Ministry of Information and Telecommunications’ Authority of Information Security on Tuesday warned that routers and storages in Việt Nam have been exposed to the VPNFilter virus.

The virus has affected over 500,000 routers and storages in many countries, including Việt Nam, it said.

The most vulnerable devices are Internet-connected routers and storages produced by popular brands like Linksys, Mikro Tik, Netgear, and TP-Link.

A research by the Cisco Talos group run by Cisco showed VNPFilter as a multi-phrase cyber-espionage virus capable of stealing information from websites and spying on the industrial command domain, such as those of power networks or industrial infrastructure.

An effected device will be restarted and reset, during which the /var/run/vnpfilterw link will be created.

The Authority said users should reset their devices to default mode to erase the malware while updating the firmware as soon as possible if they think their devices have been infected by the virus.

The Authority has warned about lopes and weaknesses in the information security sector over the past few years. Last week, international organisations announced they have discovered at least 327 security holes that could spark attacks affecting Vietnamese users.

Source: Viet Nam News