Bauxite bully

ILLUSTRATIONS: DIVYAINTERNET>> MINING • Vietnam

Google says it has identified cyber-attacks aimed at silencing critics of a controversial Chinese-backed bauxite mining project in Vietnam.

It said a ma licious software was used to infect “potentially tens of thousands of computers” of mostly Vietnamese-speaking users around the world.

Infected machines were used to spy on their owners and to attack blogs containing messages of political dissent, wrote Neel Mehta of the company’s security team in a post on Google’s online security blog.

Among the opponents of bauxite mining in the country is the legendary General Vo Nguyen Giap who led Vietnamese forces in victories against French and US troops.