VietNamNet Bridge – Mobile network operators have expressed their worries about the information security problems OTT (over the top content) app users may have. But how high is the risk?

Hoang Son, Director of Viettel Telecom, said technically, mobile network operators cannot control everything provided by OTT service providers, which means that there exists an information security risk.

Some days ago, the representatives of VinaPhone and MobiFone, the two biggest mobile network operators, also voiced their concern about the inability of controlling OTT services, because the services have been mostly provided by foreign companies which don’t set up servers in Vietnam.

Nguyen Dang Nguyen, Deputy General Director of MobiFone, said a lot of people have been using OTT services to send spam ad messages to great numbers of other subscribers. It would be very dangerous, if someone uses the services for the security threat purpose.

Meanwhile, the mobile services being provided by mobile network operators are believed to be safer thanks to the strict regulations on the management over pre-paid subscribers, which aims to minimize the possible negative impacts.

When asked if using OTT apps would bring high risks, Nguyen Minh Duc from BKAV affirmed that the risks of personal information disclosure exist in all services or apps on webs or Internet such as Yahoo Messenger, or Skype.

According to Duc, the risk may come from the users. If they can select suitable information to post on social networks, web services or OTT, the risk would be minimized.

The users’ information disclosure may occur because of the manufacturers’ mistakes. Some features of the machines may work improperly, which lead to the information disclose.

Duc cited the case happening with Facebook some years ago. The holes on the social network led to the fact that the private images of users were exposed.

However, Duc believes that the risk is not so high that OTT app users should give up using them. OTT apps are really the advanced applications which create a new method of communication with a lot of advantages.

Therefore, the key to the information security lies in the users’ hands. Users should define which information can be shared and which cannot. They need to have the sense of protecting themselves in an environment where information can be easily spread out like social networks or OTT apps.

In conclusion, Duc said, any services on Internet which require personal information registration would have similar problems. Therefore, it is safe to use the services would not depend on what the apps and what platforms they operate – Internet or 3G – but on the users when registering and sharing private information.

Are there any differences in the information security between making calls or sending messages with OTT apps and using Skype or Yahoo? The answer is there is no difference.

A prestigious security expert in Hanoi has noted that the questions about information security would arise any time when some kinds of apps turn up on the market.

However, he affirmed that the information security risks with OTT apps are just like the ones with Yahoo or Skype. Meanwhile, Vietnamese have got used to chatting, making calls with Yahoo and Skype over the last many years.

As such, the real worry of mobile network operators is not the information security, but the loss of revenue as people tend to use OTT apps instead of the familiar communications over phones.

VTC