Announcement of the first set of technical standards in the field of child protection

On June 25, in Hanoi , the Vietnam Information Security Association (VNISA) held a ceremony to announce the basic standard TCCS:03/2024-VNISA on 'Basic technical requirements for products and services to protect children in the online environment'.

The development and promulgation of a set of standards for products and services to protect children online is a practical activity of VNISA to implement the 'Program to protect and support children to interact healthily and creatively in the online environment for the period 2021-2025' approved by the Prime Minister on June 1, 2021.

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VNISA Chairman Nguyen Thanh Hung said that VNISA builds and issues a set of basic standards to contribute to improving the quality of child protection products and services and supporting market development. Photo: BTC

Former Deputy Minister of Information and Communications , Chairman of VNISA Nguyen Thanh Hung said that in the context of the Internet having many potential risks and information security risks for children, in addition to the benefits, it is important and necessary for parents and teachers to use products and services to support children in learning, communicating, and playing effectively and safely on the Internet.

From the above awareness, in recent times, VNISA has promoted the encouragement of member units to invest in research and development of products and services to protect children, moving towards building an ecosystem of solutions to protect children in the online environment in Vietnam.

To contribute to improving the quality of child protection products and services and supporting market development in this field, VNISA assigned the Vietnam Cyber ​​Child Protection Club (VCSC) to preside over the drafting of the standard. Before promulgation, the standard received comments from relevant agencies and organizations and was evaluated by the VNISA Basic Standards Appraisal Council.

“We believe that the set of standards will be the guidelines for research and product development and will be welcomed by many agencies, organizations, businesses and experts working in the field of child protection in the online environment in Vietnam,” Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hung shared.

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Acting Director of VNCERT/CC Nguyen Duc Tuan said that developing products and applications to protect children online is an important measure to create a safe and healthy online environment for children. Photo: BTC

From the perspective of the Vietnam Cyber ​​Emergency Response Center (VNCERT/CC), the Department of Information Security (Ministry of Information and Communications), the standing unit of the Child Protection Network on the Internet, Acting Director of VNCERT/CC Nguyen Duc Tuan highly appreciated the efforts of VNISA and Vietnamese information security enterprises to build basic technical requirements for products to protect children on the Internet.

“The issuance of a set of basic standards for products in the field of child protection in the online environment is a fundamental foundation, creating a premise for domestic enterprises and organizations to orient the development of high-quality Made in Vietnam products that reach international standards. The set of basic standards also helps foreign enterprises re-evaluate the level of suitability when providing products in the Vietnamese market ,” commented Mr. Nguyen Duc Tuan.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Tuan also believes that with the cooperation of State management agencies, businesses, organizations and the whole society, we will not only develop an ecosystem of products and services to support and protect children online, but also contribute to building a database to prevent harmful content for children online. Thereby, creating a safe and healthy online environment where children can freely explore, learn and develop comprehensively.

Launching assessment of quality of products and services to protect children online

Sharing the management agency's perspective on developing the market for products and services to protect children online, Ms. Dinh Thi Nhu Hoa, Head of Inspection Department, VNCERT/CC Center emphasized that developing an ecosystem of Vietnamese products and applications to protect and help children learn, connect, and entertain creatively is an important goal and solution of the program 'Protecting and supporting children to interact healthily and creatively in the online environment in the period 2021 - 2025'.

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Ms. Dinh Thi Nhu Hoa shares information about the market for products and services to protect children online in Vietnam. Photo: C.Hieu

According to Fortune Business Insights , the market for child protection products reached $1.25 billion in 2023, is expected to reach $1.4 billion in 2024 and $3.54 billion in 2032, with a compound growth rate of about 12.3%. In the US, 50% of parents have used this product to protect their children, of which 90% of users find this product useful.

In Vietnam, although there are no specific statistics on the market for child protection products, most parents and teachers currently have a need to use good products to protect and manage children's Internet usage.

In fact, the market for child protection products on the Internet in Vietnam has many solutions. Besides foreign products, there have also been solutions from domestic enterprises such as: SafeGate Family by SCS, Mobile Guard by CyRadar, Cyber ​​Purify, V-Safe...

“This is a positive signal showing the participation of domestic and foreign enterprises in developing safe products to protect children in the online environment, contributing to the cause of protecting children in the online environment,” said Ms. Dinh Thi Nhu Hoa.

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In addition to foreign products, the Vietnamese market also has child protection solutions from domestic enterprises. Illustration: Duy Vu

More specific information about the newly announced basic standard TCCS:03/2024-VNISA, Vice President of VNISA Ngo Tuan Anh, Chairman of the Vietnam Children's Protection Club in cyberspace, said that the standard stipulates basic requirements for products protecting children in the cyber environment, including 5 groups: Document requirements; feature requirements; requirements for compliance and Vietnam specificity; requirements for product information security factors; requirements for processing performance.

Informing that the set of standards is built on the basis of new technology trends and the practical basis of products as well as current legal regulations in Vietnam, Mr. Ngo Tuan Anh also said: "The requirements stated in the content of the standards are the basis for assessing the quality of products protecting children in the online environment. At the same time, organizations and businesses are encouraged to add requirements at a higher level to improve the quality of their products and services."

According to the plan, VNISA will receive dossiers to evaluate products and services to protect children online that meet the basic standards TCCS:03/2024-VNISA in July and August 2024 and is expected to announce the first batch of qualified products in November 2024, at the event of Vietnam Information Security Day 2024.

Forming a system of communication channels on child protection online According to VNCERT/CC, the Department of Information Security (Ministry of Information and Communications), up to now, a system of communication channels on child protection online has been formed, including websites and communication channels on popular social networking platforms.