A report found that Vietnam can satisfy 90 percent of demand for solutions to domestic cybersecurity. Vietnam is one of a small number of countries that is self-sufficient in cybersecurity solutions. It has a wide range of cybersecurity products and solutions, such as transmission line protection, firewall, supervision, attack detection and fight against attacks.

Vu Ngoc Son, CEO of NCS, said that in terms of quantity and types of solutions, Vietnamese firms can provide diverse products, but are still young compared with the world’s products. 

Make in Vietnam products need to undergo a period of use during which problems are revealed and fixed by developers before upgraded versions are released.

Large institutions such as banks require a high maturity level of products, so they tend to choose foreign solutions which have been used in many different countries and faced various challenges.

The advantage of Vietnam’s products is the reasonable cost. Some solutions cost just one-third of foreign solutions of the same kind. Make in Vietnam solutions prove to be ideal for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Providing solutions to SMEs is also a great opportunity for Vietnam tech firms.

The government is encouraging Vietnamese to use Vietnamese made products and services. In the field of ICT, businesses are asked to prioritize to buy Vietnamese products, including cybersecurity solutions. However, this is just encouragement and not a must.

Son thinks that, in terms of traditional products, Vietnam’s businesses should use made-in-Vietnam products. The information systems using Vietnamese solutions have a higher level of trust than foreign solutions.

This will help Vietnam’s tech firms get revenue which they can use to develop resources and products. 

“Using Vietnamese solutions is not compulsory for businesses. It would be better if the government requires businesses to use some basic products developed by Vietnamese tech firms,” Son said.

Nguyen Minh Duc from CyRadar said that Vietnam’s cybersecurity solutions have been used widely in important fields, such as e-government, banking, telecommunication, healthcare and education, and that the solutions can partially replace foreign solutions, especially in fields with high requirements on national security, information security or fields with specific Vietnamese conditions.

Vietnam’s cybersecurity solutions, however, are facing difficulties competing with foreign solutions, because of the lack of qualified workers, investment capital, government support and customer confidence.

Therefore, there should cooperation among agencies, institutions and enterprises to improve the quality and efficiency of Vietnam’s cybersecurity solutions. 

Selling Vietnam solutions 

Though selling Vietnam’s solutions in the world market is difficult, this is within reach and some tech firms have gained initial achievements.

In July 2023, SCS, a Vietnamese cybersecurity firm, and Accton Technology reached an agreement on SCS providing Make in Vietnam internet management security services to the international market.

SCS president Ngo Tuan Anh said the cooperation will provide the global market with Internet security and management services to Accton's customers. 

The two sides have agreed to cooperate to provide cybersecurity services according to the latest Security as Service model in the world. 

In the first phase, SafeGate and Accton cooperate to provide family-use solutions to customers using Accton's network devices globally. The cooperation between SafeGate and Accton can soon bring Make in Vietnam cybersecurity solutions to thr global competition.

Nguyen Son Hai from Viettel said the company wants to introduce its products to the world market. Hai can anticipate the difficulties doing so because businesses information security products based on Gartner references.

Gartner references not only show the quality of products, but also the business scale, revenue, features and comments by advisors.

However, some developing markets have other choices. They choose products which can create common value. Also, enterprises in some countries want products that are good enough, and Vietnam’s products suit that criterion, plus have lower costs.

“When going abroad, the first thing you have to do is seek partners. This is like finding a door and opening it,” Hai said.

Thai Khang