Gasoline retailer PVOIL hit by ransomware attack

PVOIL, a subsidiary of state-run giant Petrovietnam, was attacked by hackers at 0:00 on Tuesday, causing its website, email, payment application and electronic invoices to shut down.

PVOIL, registered on the Unlisted Public Companies Market (UPCoM) as OIL, is one of 34 gasoline wholesalers in Vietnam, accounting for 17% of the country's market share.

"The attack has made the issuance of e-invoices temporarily unavailable. The company has sent a written report to relevant authorities and is working hard to fix the problem as soon as possible," PVOIL said on its fanpage.

In an internal announcement, the firm's general director Doan Van Nhuom said it will take the company 1-2 days to fix the problem.

The firm has about 760 retail gasoline stations across the country. In order to ensure uninterrupted supply, PVOIL and its member units said they will continue to sell gasoline to customers. However, they will issue delivery notes instead of e-invoices until the system is fixed.

On March 24, the trading system at leading broker VNDirect Securities was also attacked by an international organization, causing investor transactions to be suspended for a week.

Ransomware has become a relatively common form of cyberattacks in Vietnam and around the world. A report by Vietnamese tech group Bkav last year showed that the company's virus monitoring and warning system recorded more than 19,000 servers being attacked by ransomware from 130,000 malicious IP addresses around the world, an increase of 35% from 2022.

On the stock market, OIL closed the Tuesday session at VND10,000 ($0.4) per share.