Cyber security threat to persist in 2018
Cyber security will continue to be a ‘hot topic’ this year, demanding the attention of technology experts.
(Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) - Cyber security will continue to be a ‘hot topic’ this year, demanding the
attention of technology experts.
According
to statistics of the Information Security Department under the Ministry of
Information and Communications, 95 percent of issues related to information
security are caused by human negligence.
Recently,
passwords of more than 1.4 billion e-mail accounts in the world have been
disclosed. The Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Team (VNCERT) analysed and
found some 438,000 accounts in Vietnam, of which some 930 had the government
domain name, “gov.vn”.
At a
year-end meeting on information security-related issues last year, Deputy Minister of Information and communications Nguyen Thanh Hung said the situation
of information security would continue to be complicated in 2018.
Notably, hackers would use smarter technologies, including artificial intelligence. In addition to this, cyber attacks would become increasingly dangerous and more difficult to detect as hackers were likely to use advanced threats to paralyse national infrastructure, Hung said.
He also
pointed out one of the main reasons for information insecurity was low levels
of awareness.
The
complexity of information technology depends on the variety of devices being
used, with many users in organisations and businesses using personal devices,
according to Hung.
If they
do not have security solutions, the risk to their information will be implicit
right in the mobile device itself.
Currently,
with the development of technology and high speed of transmission lines, the
number of internet users in the country has increased rapidly.
But
users’ perception of information security is low. A majority of Vietnamese
people do not have the habit of using software copyrights.
VNCERT Director Nguyen Trong Duong said malicious software, malicious code and viruses
that infiltrated computers were invisible to users.
He
emphasised on raising awareness of users to detect infected devices, while
equipping them with cyber-security knowledge, information technology skills and
routines of scanning and upgrading software.
Last
year, damages caused by computer viruses in Vietnam were worth 12.3 trillion VND (547 million USD), increasing from 10.4 trillion VND in 2016.
Ngo Tuan
Anh, vice president of BKAV technology group, said attacks on Internet of
Things equipment or malicious codes of blackmailing or digging out virtual
money were increasing both in number and sophistication.
Statistics
also show that 55 percent of users use the same passwords for many accounts, which
risk password exposure.
Technology
experts predict that all security network threats this year will stem from
attacks on internet-connected devices.
Thus,
besides raising awareness of users, enterprises and organisations need to apply
security policies and technology.
Organisations
and enterprises as well as individual computer users using the internet should
restrict the disclosure of personal information via mobile phones, emails and
internet services.
Organisations
and businesses especially need to protect critical information and implement
backup and recovery plans to secure website and email assets.-VNA