Viet Nam has not revealed details of network attacks or how it plans to prevent what is becoming an increasingly serious problem, experts told a conference on online security.

Speaking at the "New era of information security” seminar held to mark the 9th annual Viet Nam Information Security Day heard in HCM City on Thursday, Nguyen Trong Duong of the Viet Nam Computer Emergency Response Teams said: “We should list the losses damages from network attacks, review all our spending on network security and increase our awareness of this important problem.”

According to a report from the Viet Nam Information Security Association (VNISA), there has been an increase in the incidence of cyber attacks aimed at large corporations world-wide, including in Viet Nam.

“The attacks threaten not only companies’ business operations and assets but also national security and sovereignty,” Dr Nguyen Anh Tuan, deputy chairman of VNISA’s southern office, said.

The report stressed the importance of network security since cyber attacks have become a weapon to resolve conflicts between nations.

In the new era network protection should become a priority for all enterprises and nations, it said.

In 2016 VNISA has surveyed network security at enterprises and found 64.6 per cent of them having a manager, 78 per cent having a security unit and 78.5 per cent having IT staff in charge of network security. Half of them rent network security services.

But the report warned that 43.7 per cent of organisations and enterprises could not say if their networks had been attacked.

“This year new malware has increased by 36 per cent and right now there are around 430 million in the world,” Tuan added.

This year also saw 54 malware taking advantage of zero-day threats, and increase of 125 per cent comparing to 2015, and the number of network attacks increased by 13.7 per cent.

Network security expert Dmitry Mikhaylov of Pado Nanotech warned of the possibilities of network attacks on national infrastructure like electricity, water, fuel and transport systems.

“Vietnamese enterprises and organisations should beware that network attacks have now become very sophisticated and large scale, and could cause great economic damage. We should upgrade network protection rather than depend on traditional defences.”

Also as part of Viet Nam Information Security Day, an information security drill started at the end of September using a fake city network.

The qualifying round of a national competition called "Students and Information Security" featuring 50 teams from universities and other institutions around the country was held at HCM City’s Ton Duc Thang University earlier this month.

This is an annual event held under the patronage of the Ministry of Information and Communications and is being organised this year by VNISA.

There were reports by major global IT corporations such as Kaspersky, Microsoft, CISCO, Fortinet, HPE, Symantec, NP Core, Citrix and CA Technology, who shared their experiences in and solutions and tools for information security. -- VNS