A group identifying as Chinese hackers has attacked digital signage screens, overhead announcement systems and airline systems at airports across Vietnam.
The country’s Deputy Minister of Transport, Nguyen Nhat, confirmed that flight information screens at both Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi and Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City have been compromised to display offensive messages toward Vietnam and the Philippines, along with “distorted information about the East Vietnam Sea.” At the latter airport, the loudspeaker system was also compromised to blare out offensive messages in English.
The Da Nang International Airport, the largest in central Vietnam, did not have its announcement system compromised, but the computer system experienced repeated glitches. And further, airlines at 21 airports across Vietnam have had to switch to manual processes to complete check-in procedures for passengers. Some airlines shut down some check-in counters completely—leading to flight delays.
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“All Internet systems have been switched off so we had to do everything by hand,” an airline attendant at Tan Son Nhat airport told a local news outlet.
The VIP passenger section on the website of Vietnam Airlines was also hacked and defaced, and one source told the news outlet that personal data of some 411,000 passengers had been lifted as well.
The perpetrators are claiming credit as the China 1937CN Team. The widespread campaign is “a warning message” for Vietnam and the Philippines, they said.
In May 2015, some 1,000 Vietnamese websites were attacked by the same group, including 15 government-run platforms and 50 education sites. Around 200 websites in the Philippines were also attacked in the same period, between May 30 and 31, 2015.