The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) recently held the 13th Security World conference aimed to enhance data security, safety, and security for the financial banking and state management agencies.
During the event, the Ministry said that cyberattacks are increasingly complicated and dangerous. This requires a comprehensive security solution encompassing regulations, technology, and human resources.
The world has witnessed a lot of hacker attacks on the major bank systems of the world, stealing tens of millions of euros and dollars. Many banks and important information systems in Vietnam have also suffered cyberattacks with great economic losses.
According to the deputy director of the Department of Cyber Security and Hi-Tech Crime Prevention, methods to steal card information and counterfeiting cards (skimming) are becoming sophisticated in Vietnam. Currently, the country has about 70 million domestic cards that can be targeted by criminals.
He noted that in 2018 and early 2019, many foreigners traveling to Vietnam used fake cards to conduct fraudulent transactions and pay bills/services through point-of-sale (POS) machines, stealing hundreds of millions of dollars.
The deputy director of the Department of Information Security, Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) said that the digital transformation of the economy in the field of finance-banking has brought a lot of non-cash payment options on mobile and internet platforms.
There are many risks of information security due to the increasingly sophisticated hacker attacks, causing serious economic damage, as well as damaging the reputation of financial and banking institutions.
There are five main trends in cybersecurity in Vietnam in 2019. These include attacks on e-commerce and financial-banking systems to steal information and users’ data; attacks on state agencies and organisations; impersonating agencies, organisations, and individuals to spread malicious information on the cyberspace; using artificial intelligence to spread malware; attacking infrastructure or IoT devices.
The director of the Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Team (VNCERT), a government cybersecurity co-ordination centre under the MIC, said that Vietnam is among the top ten countries with the highest incidence of computer zombies.
In the first quarter of 2019, 28 million out of 79 million events of information insecurity discovered by VNCERT were classified as high danger level. The number of highly dangerous events is increasing.
According to experts at the conference, to ensure security, besides the elements of technology, and regulations, human resources is very important.
The country should invest in human resources along with co-operating with professional security service providers. Users’ awareness and data backup is also a crucial element.
The latest statistics from the State Bank of Vietnam show that there were 26 organisations providing e-wallet services for about 10,000 customers in Vietnam.
By the end of last year, there were 4.2 million e-wallets linked to bank accounts. On average, the whole banking system handled VN ₫300 trillion (US $13.04 billion) per day in 2018, up 25% compared to 2017.
Furthermore, according to the statistics of the National Cyber Security Centre under the MIC, in 2018 there were 10,220 cyberattacks on information systems in the country. There were 5,932 phishing attacks; 3,198 interface change attacks; 1,090 attacks installing malicious code.
Particularly in the banking sector and business system connecting with banks, many sophisticated attacks took place, revealing customer data leading to worrying consequences.
