Vietnam is being hit with a growing number of phishing attacks from hacker groups associated with the Chinese government. According to FireEye, a cybersecurity firm, China has targeted many Vietnamese officials with phishing emails in hopes of breaking into government systems.
If any of these attacks are successful, China could potentially gain valuable information that'll be useful when negotiating on the global stage.
The Chinese, like other state actors, want to know about trade negotiations and diplomats' talking points before they have to confront them in negotiations. For any southeast Asian diplomat, this is going to be a constant source of threats, both from the trade and the political strategic perspective.- Adam Segal, Council on Foreign Relations
FireEye's report on the matter highlights the use of Microsoft Word documents that are disguised with the intention of getting people to download them. Like in other phishing attacks, those files contain malware.
One document is disguised as pertaining to a proposed trade agreement known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. Another claims to be a plan for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.
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