The Bkav Technology Group said on July 26 its virus monitoring system had discovered malware called BrowserSpy that is able to track users’ actions and steal their personal data, such as bank account information, and Gmail or Facebook passwords.

According to Bkav, over 560,000 computers in Vietnam have been monitored by BrowserSpy and this number continues to grow.

Bkav recommends users to immediately remove the virus through anti-virus programmes and change their passwords for digital accounts, including online-banking, email, and social media accounts.

BrowserSpy hides in fake software spread across the Internet by hackers, tricking users into downloading it. Once enabled, BrowserSpy installs a malicious browser add-on to track and monitor user activity. At the same time, the virus can quietly steal personal information from users, accessing search content, e-mails, and web history.

Moreover, BrowserSpy can update and download further malicious codes to control the computer and perform attacks.

Bkav Vice President Vu Ngoc Son said there is no particular symptoms in computers infected with BrowserSpy, and as such it is difficult for users to detect themselves. Bkav has produced an updated anti-virus software to guard against BrowserSpy.

According to the Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Team (VNCERT), in 2017, Vietnam was hit by 13,382 cyber attacks, including 6,400 malware, 4,377 defacing and 2,605 phishing attacks.

As of June 25 this year, 5,179 attacks had been recorded, comprising of 1,122 phishing, 3,200 defacing, and 857 malware attacks.