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Cyberattackers Hijack Screens at Two Vietnam Airports, Broadcast Political Messages (washingtontimes.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the all-your-ETAs-are-belong-to-us dept.

An anonymous reader quotes an article from the Washington Times: Hackers on Friday successfully pulled off cyberattacks against Vietnam's two largest airports and the nation's flag carrier, Vietnam Airlines. The attacks -- attributed to a Chinese hacking group known as 1937CN -- ultimately failed to cause any significant security issues or air traffic control problems, Vice Minister of Transport Nguyen Nhat told local media. Nonetheless, the individuals briefly hijacked flight information screens and sound systems inside Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat airports in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, respectively...

Instead of departure and arrival details, the airports' flight screens and speakers broadcast what local media described as anti-Vietnamese and Philippines slogans, in turn prompting authorities to shut down both systems... Vietnam Airlineâ(TM)s website, meanwhile, "was seized control and transferred to a malicious website abroad" and... passenger data pertaining to an undisclosed number of its frequent flyers was published online as well, the airline said in a statement. Local media on Friday said about 100 MB of data concerning roughly 40,000 VMA passengers had been dumped online.

31 comments

  1. Trump 2016 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Hillary for prison. She belongs there.

    1. Re: Trump 2016 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      That's the political message those cyber-attackers should have broadcasted on those screens.

      Peace in the South China Sea, peace in the world. You know who to not vote for.

    2. Re: Trump 2016 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The agressor is china here, not the USA.

    3. Re: Trump 2016 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You have already concluded the whole investigation, and know the real truth? You must be a very smart person.

    4. Re: Trump 2016 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Regardless of whether he's right or wrong, the act of putting Hillary in prison is most certain to contribute towards world peace.

  2. Reading comprehension fail by rmdingler · · Score: 1
    hijack... attack... airport... ho hum, another body count story.

    Ohhhh... wait. Never mind. It's another computer security breach story... nothing ho hum about that.

    Assuming this is state-sponsored, why would the State of China maliciously hack Vietnam? Their beef is seemingly with the Phillipines.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re:Reading comprehension fail by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      Actually, I was disappointed that the hackers only posted political messages.

      I would have gone with the classic insult: "Pho You!".

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    2. Re:Reading comprehension fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Yep, Windows again. At some point Microsoft needs to be held accountable for the economic damage caused by their insecure software, don't they?

    3. Re:Reading comprehension fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Something like this achieves nothing else than make China look really bad. Now, who has the greatest interest in making China look bad?

    4. Re:Reading comprehension fail by Bowling+Moses · · Score: 3

      China has claimed basically all the South China Sea, including parts that are within the Exclusive Economic Zones of other countries. So China has territorial disputes with Vietnam, Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, as well as any nation sending its navy through "Chinese" waters. The China-Philippines dispute is the most prominent one due to the Philippines recent win against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration as well as the 2012 Scarborough Shoal standoff where a Philippine Navy ship directly encountered "Maritime Surveillance" ships from China. China seems to come into conflict the most with the Philippines, probably in part due to the Philippines having a woefully ill-equiped military that is by far the weakest in the region.

    5. Re:Reading comprehension fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Chinese nationalistic hackers! They always want the worst for the future of China and Chinese people.

    6. Re:Reading comprehension fail by djinn6 · · Score: 1

      This really doesn't seem like it's state sponsored. Broadcasting slogans isn't going to get the Vietnamese liking China any better, and as the government, there's more important things to hack than an airport PA system. You know, things like military installations.

      From a political standpoint, the South China Sea is claimed by everybody, so everybody is in conflict with everybody else. Seriously, look at this map. There's a piece of it that's claimed by all 5 countries. Phillipines just got a new president who isn't as aggressive on the territory front so their conflict with China is probably going to wind down. Vietnam on the other hand is militarizing heavily and spreading a lot of anti-Chinese propaganda, which has since led to riots and ethnic violence against Chinese immigrants.

    7. Re:Reading comprehension fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm sure they'll spin it as "adding to the economy", because they caused an entire "computer security" cottage industry full of scare-talking s'kiddies to spring into being... and profitability. Of course, it's nothing of the sort, but that doesn't stop them. In fact, they have already tried this argument before.

    8. Re:Reading comprehension fail by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Yet more AC propaganda stories to pull the nations away from China under the US 'Pivot' to Asia policy.
      A big bold headline and then reality of the story becomes more clear.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    9. Re:Reading comprehension fail by SEE · · Score: 2

      Why assume it's state-sponsored? The Chinese people are perfectly capable of irrational acts of nationalist vandalism all on their own. (It wasn't the Chinese government that denounced the US, attacked KFC and McDonald's outlets, and smashed iPhones in anger over the China-Philippines sea boundaries ruling.)

      So, why would angry Chinese attack a Vietnamese target? Simple enough. Because a number of Vietnamese citizens went out and celebrated the sea boundaries ruling, denouncing China and praising the Philippines (without any state support, and in several cases getting arrested by the Vietnamese government for it).

    10. Re:Reading comprehension fail by rmdingler · · Score: 1

      Why assume it's state-sponsored?

      *That* is the right question.

      As a Westerner, I have been taught the average Chinese citizen might be afraid to act out in such a manner.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

  3. Sounds like a cheap attempt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    at whipping up some anger at China. It's so blunt and clumsy it could only have fit in a bad movie, and I refuse to believe it's some aggressive group of Chinese hackers doing this.

  4. Upgrade to Windows 10 is not a political message by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    And Microsoft didn't hijack the screens, they own them. Says so in the EULA.

  5. What a nice idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What bout hacking those big screens on the Red Square and running Berlusconi-Putin gay pron there during May 9th parade?

  6. Re:Hillary's Thick Black cock - 2016 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Hillary's thick black cock in Trumps anus.

  7. I have a question about the third world... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    ...they don't have functional societies. They are all hopelessly corrupt. They struggle to even keep power on....so how the hell do they manage to run airlines and airports ?

    Seriously.

    I mean, in a country (not just Vietnam, but all over Asia and Africa) where $50 is the difference between life and death, how do they manage it ?

    When they substitute oil drained out of old power transformers for cooking oil (to save $2) how the hell could you possibly trust them to not be doing similar things to the airplanes, fuel, etc ?

    Totally serious question.

    1. Re: I have a question about the third world... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I also have a totally serious question. In the US, how can someone be so totaly brainwashed to generalize on such a gargamtuan scale? Seriously. With the access to internet, libraries, free press; how is such a restricted state of mind even possibke? Totally serious question.

    2. Re: I have a question about the third world... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because some people just like being ignorant. They don't want facts, because they know the truth.

      Sadly, not all such people live in the USA.

    3. Re: I have a question about the third world... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      You didn't answer his question dimwit.

      Good question too.

      If half the country wear leaves for shoes then how can you have confidence they're doing all the things they're supposed to ?

      Do they just pay European people to do it for them ?

      Hell, even half the aircraft maintenance outsourced to those places is shoddy. It's only having proper Western engineers check and double check everything the low cost countries do that prevents planes falling out of the sky regularly.

      If my pilot isn't white, and my airline isn't First World, then I'm not going. I vote with my dollars.

      The peasants can get all Allah Akbar'd into the ocean in their cut rate Asian carrier and I'll be laughing.

    4. Re: I have a question about the third world... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      faggot

  8. Obvious reasons are obvious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    It's because "hackers". Then you're supposed to shut up and like whatever comes after. Actual content guaranteed absent.

  9. Cyber by xororand · · Score: 2

    What is the current meaning of the "cyber" prefix anyway?
    It seems to me it's only used in news and by politicians to imply "something unknown and scary on the Internet".

  10. Ignore any calls for more US AIRLINE CONTROLS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is just some bullshit.

    Why the fuck would China want to attack Vietnam airlines? Just start to think sometimes.

  11. EditorDavid died, THIS ONE IS FBI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Have a seat.

  12. Really smart guys by Solandri · · Score: 1

    So Vietnam and the Philippines oppose what they see as China's invasive territorial claims to parts of the ocean which by International treaty belong to Vietnam and the Phillippines. The UN tribunal sides with them. And these Chinese hackers figure the best way to protest the UN ruling is... by hacking into computers in Vietnam? Way to go - you've just confirmed most Vietnamese's impression that the Chinese are dicks who don't care about other countries territorial rights.

    1. Re: Really smart guys by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You have some proof that it was Chinese hackers?

      When your own country is hacking everything and claiming the right to legally hack anyone, anywhere then you have zero credibility and zero high moral ground.

      Chinese hackers are about as likely here as Americans causing tension and unrest. Neither scenario would surprise anybody outside of china and the US. You are both the same to the rest of us.