Vietnamese activists opposed to a Chinese mining investment in their country have been targeted in a cyberattack, Google revealed yesterday.
The internet company said a virus had been used to attack dissident websites and described the move as an attempt to “squelch” campaigners opposed to a bauxite mining project run by Chinalco, the Chinese state-owned resources company.
In a note posted on its internet security website, Google said that potentially tens of thousands of computers had been infected when users downloaded compromised software from a site that offered Vietnamese-language keyboard software. The virus created a so-called “botnet”, a network of computers that could be controlled by the writers of the software.