In 2021, AIS received reports and delivered corresponding warnings or instructions to handle over 9,700 cyber-attacks to harm various information systems in Vietnam, a rise of 42.42 percent compared to the previous year. Along with that were series of fake Covid-19-related news carelessly spread on the Internet to scam people. More seriously, sensitive information leaks on the cyber space happened more frequently.
AIS commented that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of Internet users for daily and work or study-related activities has grown significantly. Adding to that is the remarkable rise of smart devices being used lately thanks to their convenience. This is such a good opportunity for IT criminals to easily spread fake news to attract attentions of users before sending malicious codes and stealing information of victims.
Bkav Cyber Security Co. informed that in 2021, 70.7 million computers in Vietnam were infected with such viruses. Among them, there were 2.5 million times these computers were attacked by data encryption viruses, 4.5 times as high as the one in 2020. That has made Vietnam on the list of countries with the highest rate of malware infection and cyberattacks in the world.
Sadly, most owners of infected devices are not clear of proper actions to deal with such a problem. 99 percent of participants in Bkav’s Cyber Security Assessment Program 2021 said that they would follow criminals’ instruction to pay money to rescue their data from hackers.
Bkav predicted that in 2022, attacks via malicious codes, especially data encryption, to extort money will probably be on the rise if cyber users do not exercise suitable practices to protect themselves now. In addition, as it is rather complicated, cyber security on IoT devices (Internet of Things) should receive more attention when those machines are more widely used.
What is more, attacks on supply chains are becoming a worrying tendency. Most attacks on these chains in the last few years have been quite large-scaled and serious, aiming at major renowned international corporations, leading to unmeasurable negative impacts to many people.
