In line with its community support and alert functions, VSEC annually releases its summaries and forecasts regarding the cybersecurity situation in Vietnam.
10 Cybersecurity Events in Vietnam 2005 
1/ The self-proclaimed group “Vietnam Hacker Alliance” sheds light on the fraud case in the TTVN competition
It began with a defacement attack on the main page of the website www.tintucvietnam.com. On the night of November 28, 2004, the hackers sparked an unprecedented heated debate in the Vietnamese IT community (lasting until January 2005). As a result, the iCMS group had their first prize revoked, and the TTVN competition jury took part of the responsibility for this incident. The hackers played an active role in bringing the fraud case to light.
2/ The Vietnamese hacker community transforms
The vast majority of Vietnamese hacker organizations declared their emergence into the open and shifted towards security research. This is a positive sign for the Vietnamese Internet amid ongoing attacks from hackers worldwide targeting domestic systems. Ethical hackers will contribute positively to the effort of safeguarding a healthy and robust Internet in Vietnam.
3/ Spammers and spyware “Made in Vietnam” emerge
Vietnamese Internet users began to be harassed by annoying advertising emails and pop-up spyware originating from Vietnam. This type of attack is one that countries around the world are striving to eliminate. This is also a point that Vietnamese Internet authorities should pay attention to and control early, as experience shows that the longer this crime type is allowed to persist, the more complex it will become.
4/ Vietnamese police intervene to control cybercrime
The police force conducted investigations and arrested several individuals engaged in malicious online activities. They identified some Vietnamese youngsters who purchased “free” goods using stolen accounts from foreigners. Notably, the arrest of a group involved in creating fake credit cards to withdraw money from ATMs of Vietnamese banks was essential for deterring cybercriminals and protecting Vietnam’s nascent e-commerce sector.
5/ Foreign hackers attack numerous poorly secured Vietnamese websites
The figure of 60% of government websites being controlled by foreign hackers, reported by VSEC, startled authorities. Many offered varying opinions on this statistic, but one thing everyone agreed upon: The poor security status of many websites in Vietnam is a reality.
6/ The cybersecurity profession becomes valuable
More than ever, Vietnam’s major and critical systems urgently require skilled personnel in the cybersecurity field to operate safely on the internet. This heavy responsibility, demanding high proficiency and a strong sense of duty, makes the security profession increasingly appealing to young IT researchers. Many cybersecurity training centers, both domestic and international, have been established in Vietnam.
7/ The information system security market in Vietnam begins to take off
A slew of foreign companies has entered the Vietnamese security market with a wide array of products and services. Most major global names have established a presence in Vietnam: Bitdefender, McAfee, RSA, Checkpoint, Cisco, Symantec, Juniper, Astaro, and more.
The security market in Vietnam has truly taken off, with a growing demand for product evaluation and management standards being raised at various management levels. The Government Cipher Committee is preparing to present a project to establish security standards for information safety in Vietnam.
8/ MobiFone mobile network is attacked
Despite warnings from VSEC, representatives of the MobiFone mobile network insisted they had the best cybersecurity system in Vietnam and that their systems were safe. Shortly after, the source code and customer data of MobiFone were leaked online, and an online newspaper successfully experimented with altering the content of the website www.mobifone.com.vn.
9/ Denial of service attacks become dangerous and widespread – causing significant damage
The most dangerous and hardest-to-counter form of attack on the Internet – DDoS – became prevalent in Vietnam as the global hacker community “revived” this type of attack. With several “improvements” using Flash-enabled browsers as attack tools, making all web users become zombies attacking pre-defined systems, Flash-DDoS attacks have become uncontrollable from a technical standpoint.
Technical experts believe that there is a pressing need for a national coordination and response center to effectively mitigate this dangerous type of attack.
10/ The establishment of the National Computer Incident Response Center
Prime Minister Phan Van Khai signed Decision No. 339 to establish the Vietnam National Computer Emergency Response Team, abbreviated as VNCERT.
This marks a significant milestone in Vietnam’s cybersecurity community. For the first time, Vietnam has a national center dedicated to incident response, coordinating national cybersecurity issues, and capable of international cooperation in this field.
5 Forecasts on Cybersecurity Trends and Situations in Vietnam for 2006
1/ Denial of service attacks, spam, and spyware will continue to plague Vietnam amid low user awareness.
2/ The consulting, training, and information security service market in Vietnam will be hotter than in previous years with the participation of many companies and organizations.
3/ A series of proactive activities by the ethical hacker community in Vietnam will positively contribute to suppressing cybercrime and stabilizing Vietnam’s cybersecurity situation.
4/ The issue of Internet management will become more urgent than ever. Utilizing the advantages of the Internet while controlling its negative aspects will be the biggest challenge for authorities in 2006.
5/ On March 1, 2006, the E-commerce Law will come into effect, laying the foundation for the development of e-commerce in Vietnam. Newly established e-commerce systems will face serious consequences if they do not adequately prepare for issues related to information security.
TH
