Vietnam government sites defaced by Chinese hackers, as sea tensions ignite

Government (Foreign) // Hanoi, Vietnam

About 220 local Vietnamese sites were apparently affected.

Six of the victims bore dot-gov domains. Many hackers left a message reading, “By: China Hacked" and either vandalized or knocked out the site.

The angst between Hanoi and Beijing resurfaced when the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) moved a $1 billion oil rig into Vietnam's exclusive economic zone off the Hoang Sa Islands. China positioned roughly 80 ships to guard the rig.

Such hacks are unavoidable during standoffs between two countries, Internet security analysts said, pointing to similar cases reported in Russia and Ukraine.

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