Cyberattacks on Vietnam decline, but become more sophisticated

October 1, 2021 | 09:59 am GMT+7

According to the Information Security Agency of the Ministry of Information and Communications, the number of cyber-attacks on Vietnam decreased in the first half of 2021, but the level of sophistication and damage was much greater.

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Hoang Minh Tien, Deputy Director of the Information Security Agency, told a symposium held on September 29 that many serious information insecurity events occurred in the world and Vietnam was no exception. Attacks exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities aimed at controlling, APT attacks or creating large-scale Botnets, providing on-demand attack services, denial of service attacks...

Citing data in the first six months of this year, Tien said that although cyberattacks on Vietnam have decreased by 244 compared to 2019, the level of sophistication and damage was much greater.

The fact shows that no organization can guarantee 100% security of information systems, and the information security experts and officers of a single organization cannot handle all issues from ensuring safety to response to unsafe incidents or cyber-attacks.

Based on the model of computer security incident response team, or CSIRT, Vietnam has developed its own model, the National Network for Incident Response, to ensure security for the national network, and established the emergency response team to respond to national serious incidents, Tien said.

Nguyen Trong Thai, Head of the Information Security Department of the High Command 86, Ministry of National Defense, said that cyberattacks often occur on a large scale, causing heavy losses. Therefore, Vietnam should research them and practice to be ready to respond to future attacks.

Vietnam recorded 2,915 cyber attacks in the first six months of 2021, an increase of 898 compared with the same period last year.

On May 26, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung issued Directive No 22/CT-BTTT on strengthening the prevention and combat of violations and crimes on the Internet

The Minister also requested the sector to continue to effectively implement the Prime Minister’s Directive No 14/CT-TTg issued on June 7, 2019 on enhancing safety measures on cybersecurity which aims to improve Vietnam's rankings.

Vietnam jumped 25 places in two years to rank 25th out of 194 countries and territories worldwide in the Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) in 2020, according to a report released recently by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

According to the report, Vietnam ranked seventh in the Asia-Pacific region and fourth among ASEAN countries.

The country posted a score of 94.59 with improved scores in all five reviewed pillars. The country’s efforts to build long-term development projects in personnel for cybersecurity were recognised, along with achievements in the creating of an ecosystem for safe ‘Made in Vietnam’ products and cybersecurity.

Vietnam surpassed Thailand to clinch the fourth spot in ASEAN after Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The leading countries in the Asia-Pacific region are the Republic of Korea and Japan both with 98.52 points.

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