A series of gov.vn websites are embedded with online gambling backlinks-Information Technology

This content is subtly hidden in the subpage, not on the home page.

According to information from the website of the Ministry of Information and Communications (TT&TT), recently, a number of advertisements for gambling games, online casinos, and sports betting have suddenly appeared on websites with the extension. domain name .gov.vn of some local portals such as Department of Health of Hoa Binh, Women’s Union of Nam Dinh, Department of Science and Technology of Binh Phuoc,… These contents are hidden in subpages sophisticated but not on the homepage.

Specifically, when searching on Google, gambling advertising links appear dense, many of which have the website domain .gov.vn. Search results show that the first time the ad showed on this domain was from March 18.

Gambling backlinks are embedded on the website of Hoa Binh Department of Health. (Photo: mic.gov.vn)

According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, objects take advantage of network loopholes and attack websites in a sophisticated way, because if you visit the homepage or do a normal search on Google, there will be no ads, only when you enter the right keywords. The site is currently being used for malicious purposes.

The common point of these websites is that they still use the http protocol. This is an old protocol that does not have an SSL security certificate integrated, so there are many vulnerabilities, easy to be attacked and taken advantage of by bad guys. Website source code is also outdated, using old technology, not regularly updating new versions or security patches. In addition, the website may have vulnerabilities in the initial implementation but not thoroughly tested.

The illegal gambling ads placed in a sophisticated way in .gov.vn websites can be caused by a number of other reasons such as the website administrator, the password server that is too easy to detect by hackers. From there hackers can embed backlinks (links returned from websites) for search engine optimization. Backlink of the website .gov.vn is favored by SEOs because it is evaluated by Google for its prestige. If content appears on these pages, search rankings will be higher.

More dangerously, hackers can take advantage of the resources of the server hosting the website to perform other acts such as mining cryptocurrency, using server resources to attack denial of service or deploying an underground website, through warning message from Tran Thanh Tuan – an information technology expert in Ho Chi Minh City.

This is not the first time ads for card games appear on .gov.vn websites. Two years ago, a number of local websites were also taken advantage of. Security experts believe that in the past, only hacked sites could patch, while some other parties did not check and upgrade, so this time they continued to be attacked in the old way.

The domain name .gov.vn is for state agencies and units within the organizational structure of state agencies. To have this domain name, agencies and organizations need to make registration documents and get approval from the Center Internet Vietnam (VNNIC) consent prior to licensing.

VNNIC’s representative confirmed that the above websites are licensed for the right users. “For .gov.vn domain names, VNNIC has implemented national DNS protection solutions, helping domain names not to be arbitrarily changed specifications, avoiding unintended interference. However. In terms of content management, the website will still have unexpected problems with all domain names, not just the .gov.vn extension. security and security included”, the representative of VNNIC informed.

The Vietnam Internet Center said that they are reviewing the .gov.vn website to analyze possible risks and send warnings to licensed units. VNNIC’s statistics show that Vietnam currently has more than 2,000 websites using the .gov.vn domain name.