Vietnam's TPBank says thwarted cyber hacking attempt late last year

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam's Tien Phong Bank (TPBank) said on Sunday it had thwarted a hacking attempt in the final quarter of last year and avoided the loss of more than 1 million euros ($1.13 million).

The unlisted bank said the attack targeted a vendor previously used by TPBank to connect with the SWIFT international transfers system.

It said it had stopped using the vendor on the advice of SWIFT, which informed them the vendor may have been targeted by malware.

"This attack ... did not cause any losses and had no impact on the SWIFT system in particular and the transaction system between the bank and customers in general," TPBank said.

The bank did not name the vendor.

($1 = 0.8841 euros)

(Reporting by Hanoi bureau; editing by Jason Neely)