VNDIRECT plans to reopen operations

VNDIRECT Securities Company's system was attacked from 10:00 a.m. on Sunday (March 24). On the morning of March 25, on the website and Facebook page of VNDIRECT Securities Joint Stock Company, this company officially announced that its information system was attacked by the network.

The cyber attack on VNDIRECT system on March 24 caused the securities company's operations to be suspended for nearly a week. Photo: Nguyen Hue

In the announcement on the afternoon of March 27, VNDIRECT said that the system has been restored and is currently reviewing and evaluating the system to ensure absolute security for customers transacting at the company.

On the afternoon of March 29, Chairman of VNDIRECT Securities JSC (VND) Pham Minh Huong sent a message after the securities company's system was attacked last weekend. Ms. Huong apologized for the cyber attack that disrupted and stopped transactions to customers in recent days and thanked investors and customers for their patience, support and understanding.

The Chairman of VNDIRECT said that although the entire system and data have been restored, the information security review process to ensure safe connection conditions will take a lot more time.

VNDIRECT is expected to reopen securities trading activities next Monday, April 1. VNDIRECT's Chairman also shared that he is studying appropriate support policies and will notify investors as soon as possible.

Speaking to VietNamNet on the afternoon of March 29, Mr. Tran Quang Hung, Deputy Director of the Department of Information Security (Ministry of Information and Communications), one of the experts who have been accompanying the VNDIRECT team, said: "The Department of Information Security will work with Department A05 to conduct an assessment of network safety and security before the system is officially put into operation."

VNDIRECT is the securities company with the third largest stock brokerage market share on the HoSE in 2023 with 7.01%, after VPS and SSI.

Information Security Department warns of encryption attacks

Informing VietNamNet on March 30, the Department of Information Security (Ministry of Information and Communications) said that through monitoring and supervising Vietnam's cyberspace, this agency has discovered an increasing trend of cyber attacks, especially ransomware attacks.

The Department of Information Security (Ministry of Information and Communications) warns of encryption attacks. Illustration photo: Internet

“Recently, a number of information systems of agencies, organizations and enterprises in Vietnam have been hit by ransomware attacks, causing disruptions in operations and material and image damage to agencies, organizations and enterprises, as well as activities to ensure national cyberspace security,” the Department of Information Security said.

The Department of Information Security has issued a warning, requesting agencies, organizations and enterprises to proactively review and deploy network information security for information systems under their management.

Expand both Blacklist and Whitelist to make online advertising market healthy

On the afternoon of March 26, in Hanoi, the Ministry of Information and Communications held a conference to deploy solutions for managing online advertising with the theme "Compliance - Safety - Responsibility", chaired by Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Lam.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Lam hopes that businesses and advertising agencies will be "insiders" who contribute ideas and propose appropriate and effective methods and approaches, demonstrating responsibility to the advertising industry and society.

The Whitelist was developed and implemented by the Ministry of Information and Communications since March 2023, but has not yet achieved the expected results. Photo: TH

At the conference to meet the community of online content creators in May 2023, the Ministry conveyed the message "Creating clean content will receive advertising, and advertising will find clean content". However, so far this message has not been put into practice, the Whitelist has not been as effective as expected, most businesses do not use this list despite the Ministry of Information and Communications' many recommendations.

Based on the above reality, the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information proposes a solution to build and deploy an expanded Whitelist to increase the number of news sites and registered channels, thereby expanding advertising coverage and access, while creating conditions for authorities to easily manage.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Lam also said that we should expand not only the Whitelist but also the Blacklist. “We aim to change the current situation, so that the future of the content market and online advertising is a win-win story, with the ultimate beneficiaries being society, customers, and users. Along with that, cultural values ​​must also be protected and spread in cyberspace,” the Deputy Minister emphasized.

Warning: 6 new vulnerabilities exist in Microsoft products

The Department of Information Security (Ministry of Information and Communications) recently issued a warning about 6 high-level and serious information security vulnerabilities in Microsoft products announced in March 2024.

The warning has been sent to all IT and information security units of ministries, branches, localities, state-owned corporations, banks and financial institutions.

This year, experts predict that hackers will continue to actively exploit vulnerabilities in popular technology products as a springboard for attacks and taking control of systems. Illustration: Internet

The six new vulnerabilities existing in Microsoft products that the Department of Information Security has just recommended that agencies, organizations, and businesses pay special attention to are vulnerabilities that the Department's experts have evaluated and recommended based on the list of Microsoft patches released in March 2024 with a total of 59 vulnerabilities.

The Information Security Department recommends that units check and review to determine whether computers using Windows operating systems are likely to be affected by the 6 high-level and serious information security vulnerabilities mentioned above.

In case of impact, units need to promptly update the patch to avoid the risk of being attacked by hackers.

Hackers exploit TeamViewer tool to attack and encrypt data of Vietnamese enterprises . Through supporting a number of Vietnamese enterprises that were attacked with ransomware, Bkav experts discovered that hackers accessed the system via the TeamViewer remote access tool on the enterprise's shared computer.