Against this backdrop, building trust in the digital space is no longer solely the responsibility of regulators but requires the active participation of businesses, organizations, and every citizen.
Identifying traps in cyberspace
Individuals and businesses are facing an escalating wave of cyber threats. According to the security monitoring system of the MoMo e-wallet, nearly 29,000 suspicious transactions linked to scams or cyberattacks are detected every day.
The experience of Hoang Thanh Tuan, a resident of Saigon Ward in Ho Chi Minh City, illustrates how weak personal cybersecurity practices can leave users vulnerable. One morning, he found himself locked out of his email and social media accounts, while all work and entertainment applications became inaccessible because his passwords no longer worked. Investigators later determined that he had used the same email address and password across multiple services, allowing cybercriminals to gain control of numerous accounts once a single set of credentials was compromised.
According to Adrian Hia, Managing Director for Asia-Pacific at Kaspersky, login credentials serve as the "front door" for cybercriminals. Statistics from 2025 show that of more than 193 million leaked passwords, 45 percent could be cracked in under one minute, while only 23 percent were strong enough to withstand cyberattacks. Common attack methods include brute-force attacks, which systematically test every possible character combination, and password-stealing malware that extracts credentials stored in browsers and cached memory.
Beyond stealing login credentials, cybercriminals also create fraudulent websites and links that closely mimic official online portals to deceive users. Phan Quoc, a resident of Binh Thanh Ward in Ho Chi Minh City, said he had encountered fake websites for checking traffic violations that were designed to look almost identical to the government's official public service portal.
Head of Technology and International Cooperation at the National Cybersecurity Association (NCA), Vu Ngoc Son, explained that whether users enter correct or incorrect information, scammers can steer them into different scenarios to collect additional personal data. They then ask victims to provide bank account details or passwords or perform money transfers in order to steal their assets.
Cyberattacks are no longer limited to individual users but are increasingly targeting organizations and critical sectors. Most recently, the cyber espionage campaign Operation ForumTroll was uncovered after exploiting browser vulnerabilities to infiltrate organizations in the government, financial, and media sectors.
Mastering AI while ensuring its safe use
In response to increasingly sophisticated cyber threats, Vietnam has rolled out a range of initiatives to raise public awareness of online safety. Most recently, the Department of Cybersecurity and High-Tech Crime Prevention (A05) under the Ministry of Public Security, in collaboration with the National Cybersecurity Association (NCA), launched the "TinAI?" campaign under the slogan "Verify before You Trust."
Lieutenant General Le Xuan Minh, Director of A05, stressed that safeguarding cybersecurity is not only about protecting information systems, data, and digital infrastructure. More importantly, it is about protecting public trust in information.
Analyzing emerging crime trends, cybersecurity experts noted that cybercriminals have increasingly "industrialized" their operations with the assistance of artificial intelligence. As an illustration, cybersecurity firm Kaspersky recently reported that between January and April 2026, its security solutions detected more than 33,300 cyberattacks worldwide targeting small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
Notably, most of the individual malicious files disguised as AI services detected within SMB environments were various Trojan variants. The threat landscape continues to evolve rapidly, with new scams emerging at an unprecedented pace. For example, malware and potentially unwanted software are now being disguised as OpenClaw, an AI tool that has gained widespread popularity in 2026, to infiltrate users' systems, said Vasily Kolesnikov, a security expert at Kaspersky.
Colonel Nguyen Hong Quan, Deputy Director of the Department of Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention (A05) and Head of the Data Security and Personal Data Protection Committee under the National Cybersecurity Association (NCA), said AI is presenting a range of strategic challenges. Artificial intelligence is no longer merely a tool; it is becoming a force that is reshaping the cybersecurity landscape and national security. The ability to proactively understand, master, and ensure the safe deployment of AI technologies will be a decisive factor in safeguarding sustainable development and national security in the years ahead, he said.
From a policy perspective, two inseparable dimensions must be addressed. The first is Security for AI, protecting AI systems themselves by preventing threats such as data poisoning, which can manipulate training data and lead to flawed or biased decision-making. The second is AI for Security, leveraging AI's advanced analytical and processing capabilities to detect, prevent, and respond to cyberattacks more effectively.
Cybersecurity experts say that safeguarding digital trust requires building an ecosystem-wide early warning and information-sharing mechanism, strengthening digital identity authentication, treating personal data protection as a core pillar, promoting responsible communication, and enhancing users' digital resilience against online threats. Cybersecurity is no longer the responsibility of a single agency or sector; it has become an integral part of every aspect of modern society.
According to Adrian Hia, Managing Director for Asia-Pacific at Kaspersky, Vietnam remained the country with the highest number of spyware attacks in the region in 2025, recording 322,821 incidents. The figure underscores the growing sophistication and intensity of cyber threats facing the country.
