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Computer virus attacks on rise
Computer virus attacks cost Vietnamese users around VND5.9 trillion (US$281 million) last year, according to a survey released yesterday by the BKAV Corporation (BKAV), an internet security company.
"On average, each computer user lost nearly VND1.2 million ($57) in 2010. With 5 million computers in the country, that loss equates to VND 5.9 trillion," said the survey.
BKAV researchers found that last year, around 93 per cent of computers in Viet Nam were attacked by a virus at least once, and more than 36 per cent were attacked at least once a month.
"Actually, the situation is better than in previous years, but the improvement has been slow," said BKAV's security division director Nguyen Minh Duc.
Researchers discovered that USB devices were the main source of viruses last year, with 96 per cent of users blaming them for infecting their computers.
However, there was also positive news in the survey. About 93 per cent of computer users said they must use copyrighted anti-virus software to effectively solve their problems.
Methods of dealing with virus attacks last year also changed in comparison with previous years.
In 2008, only 34 per cent said that they used anti-virus software to tackle virus attacks, and last year that number climbed to 49 per cent.
Computer users were also more watchful of strange links sent to their emails or in chat rooms.
"Only 10 per cent of surveyed users clicked on strange links. A total of 67 per cent said they would check the links sent by acquaintances and links from strangers were mainly ignored," said Duc.
"This is the safest way in this case," Duc said.
While users had a better knowledge of how to deal with virus attacks, they (About 53 per cent) were not so careful about protecting their passwords.
"Users must not tell others their codes or write them down. They also need to change the codes regularly," Duc warned.
According to BKAV, about 63 per cent of users did not lock their computers after leaving their desk.
The BKAV's survey was conducted within three weeks January with the participants around 5,000 online-customers. A similar survey was conducted by BKAV in 2008.
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