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VN sees rise in cyber crime
Cyber crime in Viet Nam had become more sophisticated with many IT networks being targeted, said the director of the IT department at the Ministry of Public Security, Nguyen Viet The, during the two-day Cloud Computing and Security World 2012 conference that concluded yesterday in Ha Noi.
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| Businesspeople learn about network security equipment. Thousands of websites in Viet Nam were attacked by foreign hackers last year. |
The said that last year saw an unprecedented rise in security attacks. He blamed the increase in cyber crime on the growth of 3G technology, which made it possible to surf the net via a mobile phone.
He said he expected cyber attacks to increase again this year because of the added risk posed by smart phone.
In Viet Nam, thousands of websites were attacked by foreign hackers in 2011. In May and June last year, 329 websites with domains gov.vn were attached, while on October 23, 2011, alone, 150 websites were attacked.
The said organisations needed to improve website administration to deter attacks.
He also said cyber criminals had been exploiting social networks sites such as Facebook and Twitter to access confidential information.
According to a State Bank of Viet Nam report last September, there were 12,000 ATMs, 50,000 POS/EDC (electronic point-of-sale equipment and electronic data capture) and 33 million banking cards in circulation in the country.
The SBV also said there had been a "technological tsunami" in cloud computing in Viet Nam. It said that 46 per cent of organisations it had looked at were implementing hybrid clouds and virtualisation.
Consolidating technological infrastructure with modern e-channel services not only enabled enterprises to cut down on operational costs, improve storage performance and data storage rates but also helped reduce work pressure and enhance an organisation's administrative ability, the conference heard.
However, information security remains a serious concern for many governmental offices and enterprises.
It is estimated that 64.2 million computers in Viet Nam were infected with viruses in 2011 – an average of 175,000 per day. Meanwhile, 2,245 websites belonging to Government offices and enterprises in Viet Nam were attacked last year, equal to 187 per month.
According to Symantec, an antivirus software manufacturer, Viet Nam ranked 12th in terms of malware (malicious software) and 10th in terms of spam among 86 countries it had looked at. Meanwhile, Symantec's findings also showed that 54 per cent of CEOs were hesitant to use cloud computing technology, while 89 per cent of examined enterprises said that reliability and security were their main concerns when considering replacing their current technological systems with cloud computing.
Symantec said governmental offices and enterprises were having to decide how best to modernise their technological infrastructure, improve their competitive advantages and at the same time, guarantee information security.
Vu Quoc Khanh, the director of the Viet Nam Computer Emergency Response Team (VNCERT), said that although information security in Viet Nam had improved, it was still not strong enough. Meanwhile, hackers often used new methods and advanced techniques to attack websites.
Khanh warned website administrators to strictly implement security rules. He said that if they found anything suspicious, they should immediately contact VNCERT.
The said the Ministry of Information and Communications often conducted monthly meetings with relevant agencies to discuss network security. However, he said Viet Nam needed to establish an ad hoc committee to tackle cyber crime.
This was the first year the Cloud Computing Conference and Exhibition was held. It was expected that it would become a regular event.
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