VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam had become the target of spy attack of hackers, according to a US intelligence report. Network security is no longer a distant issue of developing countries like Vietnam.

Statistics show that Vietnam is among the top countries faced with malware. Vietnam ranked number 1 in the world for the rate of malware infection through portable storage devices (USB, memory sticks or external drives), with 70.83% of PCs infected and 39.95% of users faced withmalware from cyberspace.

Colonel Nguyen Van Thinh, Deputy Director of the Network Security Agency of the Ministry of Public Security, cited intelligence reports on the global threat by the US company CrowdStrike with the warning that Vietnam may continue to be one of the key targets of hackers linked to the East Sea (internationally known as the South China Sea) conflict.

China has declared: "Cyberspace is the fifth battlefield and the the new front of intelligence". This country was suspected to stand behind the large-scale cyber attacks on the United States.

In 2013, China was doubted of organizing a cyber attack aimed at stealing huge data of intellectual property, e-mail, secret documents of the US government, defense contractors and other related companies.

According to Lloyds of London, one of the largest insurance companies in the world, cyber attacks and the subsequent break cause damage of about $400 billion for businesses each year.

Economic damages and cyber-terrorist threat are clear enough to force nations to take action. Even China and Russia, the countries considered to benefit from cybercrime activities backed by the state, also askedthe state to strictly control the cyber world.

Cyber-security has been added to the agenda of world summits.

In 2015, the G20 issued regulations on cyberspace. Accordingly, the leaders agreed to apply international laws on state behavior in cyberspace. All countries must comply with the standards of responsible behavior in the cyberspace, and countries are not allowed to conduct or support the theft of assets and intellectual property through the Internet in order to create a competitive advantage for their companies or their business sector.

Chinese President Xi Jinping signed G20 agreement against cyber spies.

The upcoming G7 summit in Tokyo this May will again discuss network security.

The world’s leading expert on network security Prof. Bruce Schenier told VietNamNet that the G7 needs to hold effective talks about network security because this is not simply the matter of technology but politics.

Sanctions against international cybercrime must be at the international level, not just national level, in which international transparency must be enhanced. When public criticism is ineffective, the next step will certainly be strong economic sanctions.

Last year, President Obama threatened economic sanctions against China for China’s cyber spy activities.

For Vietnam, the Minister of Public Security, now President Tran Dai Quang, used to emphasize: It is time to have the future vision to determine the present action. According to him, to respond to network security threats, the political system needs to step in with coordinated solutions.

The Ministry of Information and Communication has also developed a plan to ensure the safety of national information in the period of 2016 - 2020, focusing on the ability to detect early the risk of losing information security, flexible adaptation, reduction of risks and mitigation of the consequences of cyber attacks, and improvement of information security breakdown respond network capacity.

The Boston Global Forum, chaired by Professor Michael Dukakis, Former US Presidential candidate, with famous members like Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan (BGF's CEO), Prof. Joseph Nye, Professor Jose Manuel Barroso (Former President of the European Commission, Former Prime Minister of Portugal), and world-famous professors from American universities of Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Princeton, and Brown, has launched a program of cooperation with the Japanese government to develop the "Anti-cyberterrorism initiative" for the G7 summit through dialogues with leading experts in the field of network security.

Lan Anh