The 2013 information security index of Vietnam – VNISA Index 2013 – hasbeen improved significantly, but high risks still exist. Vietnam Netonline newspaper reports
According to Dr Vu QuocThanh, Deputy Chair of the Vietnam Information Security Association(VNISA), the 2013 index is 37.5 percent, a considerable increase overthe 2012’s index at 26 percent. However, it is far below the othercountries in the region, including the Republic of Korea, at 62 percent.
VNISA conducted a survey on 598 institutions andbusinesses with different business scales, from the ones with just fivecomputers and the ones with thousands of computers and the turnover oftrillions of dong every year.
A report of BKAV, theleading Internet security firm in Vietnam, 2,203 websites run by thebusinesses and organisations in the country were hacked in 2012, mostlythrough the holes on the systems. Meanwhile, 300 hacking cases occurredevery month since the beginning of 2013.
These arethe figures reported by the websites’ administrators when the websiteswere suspended. The actual number of cases is believed to be muchhigher.
According to Zone-H, a website specializingin counting the hacked websites all around the globe, in mid November2013, there were 1,336 warnings for 710 website addresses among thedomain names “gov.vn”.
The figures show that themeasures applied to ensure the information security for the systems withInternet connection very limited. In other words, state agencies arenow in big danger of information security.
Thesurveys have found that the majority of the attacks to state agencies’websites aimed to access and make intervention to the systems, whilethey did not make destructive actions. Hackers left the signals showingtheir penetration. Most of the state agencies did not know that theirwebsites were illegally accessed, if troubles did not occur.
The website of the Dak Lak province Youth Union, for example, washacked on November 12, 2013, while the home page was still in normaloperation.
On the same day, hackers left a message,informing about the attack to the website of the National Committee forInternational Economic Cooperation (NIEC).
The 2013White Book about Vietnam’s information technology pointed out that theaverage information security measure application level at state agenciesis low, just 25.3 percent. Less than 20 percent of organisations canrecognise the hacking and illegal entry and data destruction.Especially, the workforce in charge of information security remains verylimited with only 50 percent of State agencies having informationsecurity officers.
The worry about the informationsecurity is one of the reasons which explain why state agencies stillkeep hesitant to use e-documents.
E-documents havebeen exchanged through different channels- via emails, the documentmanagement system, other specific information system, or electronicinformation portals.
Electronic information portalsare the tool that most of the ministries and branches use to deliverlegal documents. However, security experts said that these are reallythe “portals” for illegal access, destruction and false informationdelivery.
Pierre Noel from Microsoft said that inorder to minimise the information security risks, Vietnameseorganisations and businesses need to gather intelligence information. Ifthey don’t know who operate in the cyberspace and which technologies inuse, they won’t be able to ensure the security.-VNA
According to Dr Vu QuocThanh, Deputy Chair of the Vietnam Information Security Association(VNISA), the 2013 index is 37.5 percent, a considerable increase overthe 2012’s index at 26 percent. However, it is far below the othercountries in the region, including the Republic of Korea, at 62 percent.
VNISA conducted a survey on 598 institutions andbusinesses with different business scales, from the ones with just fivecomputers and the ones with thousands of computers and the turnover oftrillions of dong every year.
A report of BKAV, theleading Internet security firm in Vietnam, 2,203 websites run by thebusinesses and organisations in the country were hacked in 2012, mostlythrough the holes on the systems. Meanwhile, 300 hacking cases occurredevery month since the beginning of 2013.
These arethe figures reported by the websites’ administrators when the websiteswere suspended. The actual number of cases is believed to be muchhigher.
According to Zone-H, a website specializingin counting the hacked websites all around the globe, in mid November2013, there were 1,336 warnings for 710 website addresses among thedomain names “gov.vn”.
The figures show that themeasures applied to ensure the information security for the systems withInternet connection very limited. In other words, state agencies arenow in big danger of information security.
Thesurveys have found that the majority of the attacks to state agencies’websites aimed to access and make intervention to the systems, whilethey did not make destructive actions. Hackers left the signals showingtheir penetration. Most of the state agencies did not know that theirwebsites were illegally accessed, if troubles did not occur.
The website of the Dak Lak province Youth Union, for example, washacked on November 12, 2013, while the home page was still in normaloperation.
On the same day, hackers left a message,informing about the attack to the website of the National Committee forInternational Economic Cooperation (NIEC).
The 2013White Book about Vietnam’s information technology pointed out that theaverage information security measure application level at state agenciesis low, just 25.3 percent. Less than 20 percent of organisations canrecognise the hacking and illegal entry and data destruction.Especially, the workforce in charge of information security remains verylimited with only 50 percent of State agencies having informationsecurity officers.
The worry about the informationsecurity is one of the reasons which explain why state agencies stillkeep hesitant to use e-documents.
E-documents havebeen exchanged through different channels- via emails, the documentmanagement system, other specific information system, or electronicinformation portals.
Electronic information portalsare the tool that most of the ministries and branches use to deliverlegal documents. However, security experts said that these are reallythe “portals” for illegal access, destruction and false informationdelivery.
Pierre Noel from Microsoft said that inorder to minimise the information security risks, Vietnameseorganisations and businesses need to gather intelligence information. Ifthey don’t know who operate in the cyberspace and which technologies inuse, they won’t be able to ensure the security.-VNA
