This morning, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Information and Communications, in collaboration with the Vietnam Information Security Association - Southern Chapter (VNISA South), organized the Southern Regional Information Security Conference and Exhibition 2024 with the theme ‘Securing digital infrastructure, data, and the digital economy against cybercrime’.
The conference and exhibition was held at the GEM Center in HCMC’s District 1. This is an annual event, organized every year to provide visual information in the field of information technology (IT) and information security (IS) for leaders of agencies, businesses implementing digital transformation applications, and government agencies at the central level and in the southern provinces.
In the first half of 2024, a series of ransomware attacks targeted large businesses in Vietnam, paralyzing systems, disrupting operations and business activities, and causing significant financial losses.
Many businesses were forced to pay large ransoms to recover their data and restore their systems, leading to a loss of trust from customers and partners. The damages were not only economic but also long-term impacts on the reputation and competitiveness of Vietnamese businesses in the international market.
This year's event would focus on hot issues such as safety in cashless transactions, information protection of technology systems for the southern largest city's digital transformation, artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ ML) supporting traditional solutions of information security and authentication in the context of hackers having smarter means.
In addition, the event also featured a series of activities related to cybersecurity, including a conference exclusively for leaders of government agencies and enterprises, a scientific workshop on information security, a Ho Chi Minh City cybersecurity drill, and the ASEAN 2024 student cybersecurity competition.
Chairman Ngo Vi Dong of the Southern VNISA branch said that in 2024, the entire information and communications industry will strive to popularize digital infrastructure and innovate digitally for digital socio-economic development.
Chairman Ngo Vi Dong said that in the digital age, all management and operation activities from government agencies to businesses require a robust technological system, accurate databases, and seamless operations. Alongside these advantages, cybercriminals are always exploiting technology to carry out malicious activities such as attacking technological infrastructure and data for profit.
The fight against cybercrime is always direct, requiring constant vigilance and proactive prevention strategies. Therefore, each year, VNISA Southern Branch, in collaboration with various organizations, organizes events to provide agencies and businesses with the current state of cybersecurity, thereby proposing effective cybersecurity solutions, emphasized Mr. Ngo Vi Dong.
At the event, Director Lam Dinh Thang of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Information and Communications stated that while the rapid development of digital transformation brings about significant opportunities, it also comes with numerous challenges and risks, especially in the face of the increasing prevalence of cybercrime.
In 2023, Vietnam experienced nearly 14,000 cyberattacks, a 10 percent increase compared to 2022. Cyber threats have rapidly increased in sophistication over the past year causing significant impacts on the economy, society, and national security.
Ho Chi Minh City is currently accelerating digital transformation and building digital infrastructure, making it a highly attractive environment for cyber criminals. The city is also striving to combat increasingly large and frequent cyberattacks targeting government agencies and businesses, resulting in serious consequences, said Mr. Thang.
He added that however, the current reality is that the awareness of cybersecurity among citizens, agencies, and businesses is still low; there is a shortage of skilled human resources and insufficient investment in cybersecurity; and existing inadequacies in legal policies. He hoped that, through this workshop and exhibition, Ho Chi Minh City would receive more feedback and contributions to ensure cybersecurity in the coming time.
According to a survey conducted by the Southern Chapter of VNISA, in 2024, many organizations and businesses have outsourced cybersecurity monitoring services to optimize costs with an increase from 20 percent to over 50 percent compared to 2023. Data backup to combat ransomware is an effective method; nevertheless, up to 59 percent of organizations and businesses have not implemented or have not focused on backing up important data.
The survey results also show that 61 percent of organizations have already implemented cybersecurity measures to mitigate the impact of attacks while 13 percent of organizations are interested but lack sufficient information and resources to do so.
