|
Effective IT security strategy needed
The Security World ’09 Conference opened in Hanoi on March 24, attracting a large number of leading information technology (IT) experts, senior government officials, policy-makers and businesses operating in the field.
The two-day event, themed “Secure your organisation in an insecure era”, was jointly held by the General Department of Technology under the Ministry of Public Security (MoPS), the Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Team (VNCERT) under the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) and the International Data Group in Vietnam (IDG Vietnam).
The conference discussed the hottest issues on information security during the current economic downturn. In a volatile economy, enterprises face a greater security threat, from cyber crime attacks to the theft of valuable corporate information. The vital question for organisations is how to create an effective strategy for the security of information that can ensure business continuity within a limited budgets.
Addressing the conference, MoPS Vice Minister Dang Van Hieu said that Security World ’09 will seek out solutions and technology for public security and national requirements in security fields such as networking security, data protection, surveillance systems and hi-tech crime prevention.
”The event has become a prestigious and high profile forum for IT experts, chief executive officers (CEOs) and chief information officers (CIOs) from governmental institutes and enterprises,” he said.
The event highlighted critical issues in the National Information Security Strategy and Technology Platform for Public Security, regarding the law, data encryption standards and cooperation with the national information security authority.
Deputy Director of the Department of Financial Informatics and Statistics, Tran Nguyen Vu, said that the conference is taking place in the context of cuts in IT budgets and security spending due to the pressure of an economic downturn.
“The information security strategy encompasses security policies, compliance controls as well as solutions at both local and network levels”, he noted.
According to McAfee (2009), companies worldwide lost nearly US$1 trillion due to intellectual property theft and damage to information systems. The three main reasons for leaked data and system breaches are: cost cutting and the negligence of security systems; growing attacks by hi-tech criminals and corporate insiders. McAfee forecasts that the tightening global economy will increase incidents of data theft.
The MoPS said that numerous security vulnerabilities exist in Vietnam and nearly 60 million computers have already been infected by viruses. There were 416 incidents of website hacking and international hackers accounted for 251 incidents. The different strains of viruses rose by 5 times that of 2007 and dozens of websites are attacked each month. 40 cases related to hi-tech crimes that incurred losses of VND30,000 million (10 times that of 2007).
During the conference, a discussion entitled “Information Security Strategy for Enterprises and Organisations” was also held to cover issues relating to information security policies, information security management systems, risk evaluation and classification, products and solutions for risk evaluation and management.
In 2009 so far, 42 websites have been attacked due to their vulnerability. Among them, there were many websites with the .gov.vn and .edu.vn domain names. Therefore, the session concentrated on two growing concerns in Vietnam: “.vn” domain name and security for wireless networks.
The main conference also showcased the latest software systems, tools, equipment and solutions for anti-virus/spam/spyware, data management and storage, web security appliances, surveillance and identity management. Among the leading software providers attending the exhibition were Symantec, IBM, CE Infosys, Checkpoint (Misoft), Nokia (M.Tech), Tumbleweed, PineApp, Secure Metric, Amigo and Bkav Pro.
Ngoc Khanh
vov
|
