VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Industry and Trade has asked Vietsovpetro and PetroVietnam to prepare themselves for a possible hacker attack as it is said that international hackers plan to attack the companies’ networks on June 20.

Tran Huu Linh, head of the Vietnam E-Commerce and Information Technology Agency, said that after the Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Team (Vncert) had reported to the Ministry of Transport on the imminent attack, Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and Vietsovpetro Joint Venture on Tuesday were asked to stay on high alert.

They were told to examine response procedures, update information technology and network security systems, and prepare backup systems. In addition, employees of the two companies were asked to be cautious of suspicious emails.

According to Vncert, the defense system has been turned on and management agencies are closely monitoring the situation.

Vncert has received the notifications on the possible hacker attack from the Vietnam Information Security Association and computer emergency response teams in Asia-Pacific since Monday after the WhiteHat Forum posted an entry saying that international hackers scheduled the attack on the next day.

The entry cited Cyberwarzone and USNews as saying that the hacker group AnonGhost, which orchestrated the #opPetrol 2013 campaign attacking a number of oil companies in countries involved in the global oil trade on June 20, 2013, will organize a similar campaign on the same day one year later. Companies which may be attacked this time include Vietsovpetro and PetroVietnam.

The attack may be in the forms of network access jamming, website interface change, information theft and attacks on servers.

Security experts of the WhiteHat Forum said that the attack was the most likely to occur on June 20 though there might be some changes in the attack time.

Meanwhile, according to local internet security experts, this may be simply a threat and there is a likelihood that the attack will not be carried out. However, preparedness for the attack is still needed.

SGT/VNN