At the conference

Lieutenant General Nguyen Minh Chinh, Director of A05, said at a conference on ensuring information security for digital content that Vietnam has joined the fourth industrial revolution.

Vietnam now has 70 million internet users, or nearly 70 percent of the population, with 154 million internet connection devices. The IT industry is high ranking, and digital infrastructure has developed rapidly with 68 million Facebook accounts. The conditions, however, pose challenges in ensuring national security and social order.

Criminals take advantage of the spreading power, anonymity, cross-border usage and high security of the internet to disseminate malicious information against the Party and State. The number of crimes of this kind was very high in 2021, when Vietnam organized many important events and pandemic developments continued to be complicated.

Professional units have handled more than 1,100 sites with 2.3 million items of news and articles violating the law. MPS recorded 8 million warnings about cyberattacks, and 2,763 attacks on domestic websites and electronic information portals, an increase of 26 percent over the previous year.

MPS has imposed administrative fines on dozens of violators, neutralized hundreds of systems collecting personal information illegally, and seized 1,400GB of personal data that had been appropriated.

MPS, after examining 26 local agencies, discovered many serious security vulnerabilities. The information systems had viruses and dangerous spyware, which posed security risks.

In 2021, agencies discovered 30 cases of information disclosure and loss of state secrets with 202 documents. Some Covid-19 prevention apps were found as facing the risk of losing personal information.

A05 also said that the number of phishing cases is on the rise.

Criminals impersonate law enforcement agencies, break into personal and businesses’ email accounts, hijack systems to defraud people; forge banks’ websites, counterfeit telecommunication BTS to spread false information; and install devices to steal information from ATM cards.

In the last five years, MPS discovered and handled 2,386 cases, filed charges against 1,055 suspects in 1,158 cases, and imposed administration fines on violators in 51 phishing cases.

MPS also reported an increase in scams under MLM mode (multi-level marketing), including financial mobilization in accordance with MLM model; investment in foreign currencies and real estate; issuance of cryptocurrencies, and online sale of shares and training courses. In most cases, scammers, after attracting a certain amount of money, collapsed the systems and ran away.

Since 2016, MPS has handled 12 cases and filed charges against 37 individuals in nine cases of this kind. 

Doan Bong

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