As many as 1,037 websites were attacked by hackers in Viet Nam in 2009, while 461 and 342 websites were hacked in 2008 and 2007 respectively.

In 2009, there were over 47,000 computer viruses in Viet Nam, up 30 per cent compared with 2008, according to statistics from the Bach Khoa Internet Security Centre (Bkis). Websites of internet service providers, financial companies, banks and governmental agencies were hackers’ most common targets.

In November and December last year, Bkis was aware of 18 websites of government ministries and departments being attacked by hackers.

According to Nguyen Tu Quang, general director of Bkis, the websites were vulnerable ‘due to companies’ lack of security knowledge and their failure to communicate their security needs to the website builders.

Quang said there should be more security regulations for government sites and each department should employ professional technicians on computer network administration and security.

Vietnamese websites’ lax security contributed to 73,000 computers being infected with Conficker, a computer worm targeting Microsoft Window’s operating system, and Viet Nam was second worst hit of 103 countries by cyber-spyware GhostNet.