By 2030 Vietnam will be listed as one of the top 30 countries for the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) Global Cybersecurity Index, targeted by the national digital transformation program.
The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) has issued a plan to achieve this goal. The national digital transformation program, approved by the Prime Minister in June, is centred around the idea that ensuring network security is key to successful and sustainable digital transformation, an inseparable part of digital transformation in Vietnam.
According to a press release, all equipment, products, software, information systems, and investment projects in information technology must include mandatory components on network security right from the design step.
Under this program, Vietnam’s goal is to enter the group of 40 leading countries in the world for the ITU’s Global Cybersecurity Index in 2025 and among the top 30 countries in 2030.
In Directive 01 on the development orientation of Vietnam’s information and communication industry, MIC emphasised that network security is a prerequisite for the development of an e-government and digital transformation, so it must move one step ahead. The Ministry assigned the Department of Information Security to develop a plan to add Vietnam into the group of 30 top countries for the Global Cybersecurity Index.
In addition to clearly assigning tasks among the relevant agencies, the deadlines, the plan specifies tasks and solutions to improve Vietnam’s Global Cybersecurity Index, with six groups, including:
- Legal measures
- Technical measures
- Organisational measures
- Capacity-building
- Cooperation
- Support missions
Under the plan, this year the Department of Information Security will complete the development of a project to protect and support children in healthy interactions on the internet; a Decree on the prevention of spam messages, spam emails, spam calls, and the regulations on text, email, and call-based advertising.
The Department of Information Security is also responsible for coordinating with the Ministries of Education and Training; Labor; War Invalids and Social Affairs; Science-Technology; and Environment to add information security content into curricula at general schools.
Also, to organise campaigns to raise awareness about child protection on the internet, and to promote start-ups in the field of information security.
In the 2020-2021 period, the Department of Information Security will be responsible for promoting the establishment of regional computer emergency response teams (CERT), organising drills for these teams, and encouraging the teams to joint regional CERTs such as APCERT and FIRST. Developing the Vietnam Network of Information Security Products is another important task for the agency.
The ITU’s Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) is a trusted reference that measures the commitment of countries to cybersecurity at a global level – to raise awareness of the importance and different dimensions of the issue.
Based on a multi‐stakeholder approach and initiative, the GCI leverages the capacity and expertise of different organisations, with the objectives of improving the quality of the survey, fostering international cooperation, and promoting knowledge exchange on this topic. The ITU Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA) provides the general foundation and framework for the initiative.
According to the GCI 2019 report, for the first time, Vietnam was listed among the group of countries and territories with a high commitment to network security, ranked 50 out of 175 countries and territories, up 50 grades compared to 2017.
