A group of Chinese hackers has claimed responsibility for hacking Vietnam’s two largest airports late Friday afternoon, resulting in a string of flight delays and security concerns.
According to Thanh Nien, from 4pm to 5:45pm yesterday afternoon, flight information and advertising screens were hacked to present “distorted information” about the East Sea, insulting Vietnam and the Philippines, said Vice Minister of Transport Nguyen Nhat.
The China-based hacker group 1937cN.net team, which has previously been linked to website hacks in Vietnam, also took over the public announcement systems at the airports where they relayed similar information about the East Sea and China’s claims to it, reports Tuoi Tre.
As a result of the hack, airlines were forced to use manual procedures, causing all flights at both airports to be delayed by 30 to 50 minutes.
Nhat told the press that the incident affected neither airport security nor air traffic control.
Vietnam Airlines’ website was also targeted by the hacker group, the most prominent group of its type in China, according to hack-cn.com, which displayed pro-China East Sea information on its homepage in addition to leaking a list of 400,000 members of the airlines’ frequent flyer program.
Vietnam’s Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam said police are investigating the hack.
[Photo via VnExpress]
