Cyber ​​attacks on systems in Vietnam continue to decrease

The technical system of the Department of Information Security (Ministry of Information and Communications) recorded 204 cyber attacks on information systems in Vietnam in October, down 18.4% compared to the previous month and down 79.8% compared to the same period in 2023.

Thus, in the past 3 months, the number of cyber attacks on systems in Vietnam has continuously decreased, from 349 incidents in August, to 250 incidents in September and further decreased to 204 incidents in October.

Accumulated from the beginning of 2024 to the end of October, the number of cyber attacks on systems in Vietnam was 4,483, down more than 57% compared to the first 10 months of 2023 (10,513 incidents).

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The decreasing trend of cyber attacks on information systems in Vietnam causing incidents is considered a positive signal, showing that domestic agencies and units have paid more attention to ensuring the safety of information systems. Illustration photo: M.Quyet

The decreasing trend of cyber attacks causing incidents to information systems in Vietnam, according to experts, has partly shown a change in the awareness and actions of organizations and businesses in Vietnam about the need to ensure the security of information systems.

In a recent sharing at the CIO CSO Summit 2024, Ms. Trieu Thi Thu Lan, an expert from KPMG Vietnam, said that through cyber attacks on a number of units in Vietnam, many domestic enterprises and organizations have raised their priority level on information security and safety issues much higher than before.

3 solutions for units to proactively respond to risks

Although the number of cyber attacks on systems in Vietnam has decreased, the sophistication and danger of the attack campaigns are considered to be increasing.

In fact, in the first months of this year, Vietnam's cyberspace has also witnessed important information systems containing a lot of data of businesses and organizations operating in key fields such as telecommunications, energy, securities, and logistics being attacked by ransomware.

Ransomware attacks on units in Vietnam have seriously affected the operations, economic losses and reputation of businesses and organizations.

According to a representative of the Information Security Department, this is a warning as international cybercriminals are increasingly interested in Vietnamese businesses.

The representative of the Department of Information Security also emphasized that, in the context of continuously developing and increasing cyber security threats in cyberspace, agencies, organizations and enterprises must always be vigilant and constantly improve information security capacity and the ability to prevent and combat threats.

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Regular practice and training for information security personnel to improve their ability to respond to and handle cyber attacks is also a measure that agencies and businesses need to focus on. Illustration: Van Anh

To proactively respond to information security risks, the Department of Information Security recommends that agencies, organizations and businesses pay attention to implementing 3 groups of solutions: Having a good response plan, investing properly in information security and regularly practicing response plans.

Specifically, units need to develop a comprehensive information security plan for their business organization, including measures from monitoring, detection to protection, quick response, and system recovery after incidents.

The plan needs to be built on strict compliance with legal regulations on information security and procedures when cyber attacks occur to ensure effective incident response, as well as the 6 key solutions instructed by the Ministry of Information and Communications.

“In particular, it is necessary to pay special attention to offline data backup solutions and deploy solutions to quickly recover when the information system has problems within 24 hours. The plan also needs to thoroughly understand and apply the principle that systems that have not been concluded to ensure information security should not be put into use,” the representative of the Information Security Department added.

At the same time, investment in information security, including investment in tools and regular costs for information security, is recommended to account for 10% of the unit's total spending on IT and digital transformation.

At the same time, it is necessary to regularly train the team, periodically check and evaluate information security and organize real-life information security drills to detect security vulnerabilities in the information system.

Cyber ​​attacks are increasingly focused on important information infrastructures . Emphasizing that cyber attacks are focusing on important information infrastructures, Deputy Director of VNCERT/CC Le Cong Phu cited that a number of financial and energy enterprises... in Vietnam have encountered serious information security incidents recently.