Trash trap gets to work removing plastic waste from Vietnam’s Red River

Removing the vast amounts of plastic waste already polluting our oceans is going to need tackling in a number of ways. But the flow of plastic from rivers also needs to be stopped, and that’s what Vietnam’s trash traps are designed to do.Continue Readi… Continue reading Trash trap gets to work removing plastic waste from Vietnam’s Red River

Vietnamese restaurant highlights the beauty of bamboo

VTN Architects has been experimenting with bamboo for some time now and with its recently-completed Vedana Restaurant, the firm has produced its most ambitious bamboo-based work to date. The building rises to a height of 18 m (60 ft) and features a com… Continue reading Vietnamese restaurant highlights the beauty of bamboo

Cryptocurrency miners were ‘distraction technique’ in APT’s espionage campaigns, Microsoft says

Sometimes a sneaky Monero miner is more than just a sign of a crook. Cyber-espionage campaigns this summer in France and Vietnam deployed cryptocurrency mining software on victims’ networks to help draw attention away from the hackers’ spying tools, Microsoft says in a new report. The company’s threat intelligence unit has pinned the activity on an advanced persistent threat (APT) group it calls Bismuth, more commonly known as APT32 or OceanLotus. “Recent campaigns from the nation-state actor BISMUTH take advantage of the low-priority alerts coin miners cause to try and fly under the radar and establish persistence,” the researchers say in a report released Monday. In this case, the coin miners collected Monero, a cryptocurrency with a reputation for being harder to trace than other digital coins. The hacking group — which other cybersecurity researchers have linked to the Vietnamese government — has been developing new techniques to break into […]

The post Cryptocurrency miners were ‘distraction technique’ in APT’s espionage campaigns, Microsoft says appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Cryptocurrency miners were ‘distraction technique’ in APT’s espionage campaigns, Microsoft says

MacOS backdoor appears to be update of tool previously used by Vietnam-linked group

The hacking group known as APT32 or OceanLotus appears to have a new version of a tool used to infiltrate MacOS computers, according to researchers with cybersecurity company Trend Micro. The malicious software arrives as a .zip file that tries to disguise itself with a Microsoft Word icon, and it is engineered to evade detection by antivirus software, Trend Micro says. Once activated, the malware serves as a backdoor for other payloads that can exfiltrate data from an infected machine. It’s the latest sign of expanded or upgraded tactics from APT32, which is known for espionage campaigns that target Southeast Asia. Recent discoveries attributed to the group include efforts to use imitation news sites to spy on users and sometimes infect their machines with malware, and using the Google Play Store to distribute apps surreptitiously loaded with spyware. In this case, the MacOS backdoor appears to aimed at computers in Vietnam itself. “The […]

The post MacOS backdoor appears to be update of tool previously used by Vietnam-linked group appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading MacOS backdoor appears to be update of tool previously used by Vietnam-linked group

Vietnamese hacking group OceanLotus uses imitation news sites to spread malware

Suspected Vietnamese government-linked hackers are behind a series of fake news websites and Facebook pages meant to target victim with malicious software, according to Volexity research published Friday. The hackers, known as OceanLotus or APT32, historically have targeted companies that have business interests in Vietnam. In this case, the fake sites and Facebook pages, which were set up within the last year, were intended for targets in Vietnam and across Southeast Asia, according to Volexity researchers. The attackers appear to have dual aims in their campaign — first, to gather information about the visitors to the fake media sites through a web profiling framework. They also occasionally target victims with malware meant to log targets’ keystrokes. Earlier this year, Kaspersky researchers revealed the hackers have been using the Google Play Store to disperse malware, suggesting both domestic and foreign intelligence collection requirements. This April, when the coronavirus was spreading around the world, the same group began sending malware to […]

The post Vietnamese hacking group OceanLotus uses imitation news sites to spread malware appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Vietnamese hacking group OceanLotus uses imitation news sites to spread malware

APT Attack Injects Malware into Windows Error Reporting

The fileless attack uses a phishing campaign that lures victims with information about a worker’s compensation claim. Continue reading APT Attack Injects Malware into Windows Error Reporting

These tiny islands are at the heart of an uncovered Chinese phishing campaign

Suspected Chinese hackers are behind a phishing campaign apparently aimed at collecting data about Vietnamese government officials amid an ongoing territorial dispute between the two nations, according to new findings. A hacking group known as Pirate Panda, which has possible ties to the Chinese government, is trying to trick Vietnamese government officials into clicking on malicious Microsoft Excel documents attached to emails purportedly detailing festivities for Vietnamese holidays, according to research the threat intelligence firm Anomali shared with CyberScoop. Targeted individuals appear to be located in Da Nang, Vietnam, near a collection of landmasses in the South China Sea known as the Paracel Islands. The area is one of the most hotly contested regions of the South China Sea, with Beijing claiming ownership of much of the waterway. In recent days, Vietnam has said it does not recognize China’s claims over the islands, while China has said that Vietnamese claims […]

The post These tiny islands are at the heart of an uncovered Chinese phishing campaign appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading These tiny islands are at the heart of an uncovered Chinese phishing campaign