According to statistics, in Vietnam, over a thousand fake websites steal information from Facebook users every month and 14 million spam emails are sent every day. 30% of bank websites are not fully safe from hackers. These figures point to Vietnam being particularly vulnerable to cyber-attacks. And experts have warned that there’s nothing for free on the Internet.
"Two big challenges are on the internet. Security firstly and privacy. And all free services that we use online Google, Youtube, Facebook whatever, they are free but actually they’re not free. You look at companies. They make billions of profits by providing these free services which illustrates how much money can be made." - Mikko Hypponen, Chief Research Officer, F-Secure.
Cyber-attacks are easily noticed when a website is down or information is stolen. However, it is now more difficult to detect these attacks due to their increasingly sophisticated character.
"Theoretically, hackers can attack user accounts in other countries without geographical restriction. That is the challenge to not only Vietnam but other countries." - Nguyen Huy Dung, Deputy Director, Information Security Department, Ministry of Information and Communication.
"There are agreements on prevention and rescuing with other countries. If other countries need any help to fend off cyber-attack, all the agreement members involved will respond." - Nguyen Trung Chinh, General Director, CMC Corporation.
Losses caused by malware in Asia-Pacific region were estimated to have reached an incredible 230 billion USD in 2014. Vietnam has is currently trying to complete its legal system in terms of online governance so it can cope better and aid in the global fight against cyber attacks./.
