Threats to information safety and cybersecurity are becoming more serious as the use of unsafe equipment such as internet protocol cameras, routers and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is increasing in Viet Nam, according to a source from the Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Saigon) newspaper.

The internet of things (IoT) is growing rapidly worldwide, ushering in momentous changes and huge opportunities for businesses, the paper said.

Nguyen Huy Dung, deputy head of the Information Security Department under the Ministry of Information and Communication, said that network security vulnerability had increased with such usage.

Viet Nam now has more than 316,000 internet protocol cameras.

Le Thanh Binh, an expert in information safety and cybersecurity, said that low awareness among high-ranking officials and staff operating the systems is the major obstacle to security in Viet Nam.

In addition, many users have no knowledge about information security.

“Enterprises as well as individuals should protect themselves first by investing in cybersecurity human resources. We should not wait for protection from authorities,” Binh said.

Organisations and enterprises as well as individual computer users should restrict the disclosure of personal information via their mobile phones, emails and internet services, he added.

Businesses especially need to protect critical information and implement backup and recovery plans to secure website and email assets.

According to a report from cybersecurity company Symantec, Viet Nam is among the world’s top 10 countries hardest hit by cybercrime.

It still has a relatively poor record of tracking down cyberthreats it faces.

Viet Nam was responsible for 2.16 per cent of global threat detections in 2016, up from 0.89 per cent in 2015.

It suffered the largest number of cyberattacks of any country last year, and ranked second in terms of attacks on Internet of Things devices, with 15 per cent of such attacks hitting Vietnamese devices, only behind China’s 17 per cent. — VNS