Malware costs Vietnam computer users $902 million in 2019

Luu Van Dat Friday | 01/10/2020 17:05

Photo courtesy of BKAV

Malware brought Vietnamese users a total damage worth $902 million, up 40% from $643 million damage in a year earlier, Vietnam’s cybersecurity firm BKAV said in a report.

The increase in damage came after the number of computers infected with malware from advanced persistent threats. The 2019’s total number of infected computers was recorded at 85.2 million, an increase of 3.5% against 2018.

Nearly 60% of computers in the country caught malware while 80% of computers were infected with viruses from installing software on the Internet. The number of infection through email increased to 20% from 4% in 2018, according to the cybersecurity firm.

The rate of virus infection through USB dropped sharply, but remained at 55%, a high rate. There are over 41% of computers in Vietnam containing SMB vulnerabilities, used by Wanna Cry virus to infect more than 300,000 computers in just a few hours.

Downloading files without checking authenticity was another cause for the high virus contamination on Vietnamese computers. Eight out of 10 computers were infected with malware due to this behavior, the report said.

According to Bkav statistics, the number of computers lost data in 2019 reached 1.8 million, up 12% compared to 2018.

Source: Bkav