ITU (the International Telecommunication Union) in mid-September publicized the 2024 GCI, the fifth assessment period. Vietnam is among the 46 leading countries, i.e., countries with total scores of over 95, together with many developed countries, including the US, UK, France, Germany and Italy.

ITU commented that these countries showed strong commitment and effort to ensure cybersecurity.

The ITU’s report also showed that, with a total score of 99.74/100, Vietnam ranks 17th, together with Spain, which has the same score. 

Meanwhile, 13 countries all have 100/100 scores each, while three others (the US, Portugal and Singapore) have 99.86 scores each. 

Vietnam had a  20/20 score in the 2024 GCI in two pillars – legal framework and cooperation. In addition, it also had a perfect score in two other pillars – technique and organization. Vietnam received a 19.74 scores for capacity heightening.

Vietnam ranks fourth out of 11 countries in Asia Pacific leading in 2024 GCI. Among ASEAN countries, it ranks third, just after Indonesia and Singapore. 

As such, Vietnam has jumped by eight positions in the global cybersecurity index and by one position in ASEAN.

Ngo Tuan Anh, deputy chair of VNISA (Vietnam Information Security Association) and president of SCS, said the ranking shows Vietnam’s efforts to ensure information security and react to cybersecurity threats.

“The great efforts were made for a long time. The ranking shows Vietnam’s high investment in cybersecurity which has brought encouraging results,” Anh said.

The deputy chair and secretary general of the Vietnam Internet Network Association, Vu The Binh, said Vietnam’s presence among the leading group of countries shows the international organization’s recognition of Vietnam’s commitments in the field of cybersecurity.

Binh stressed that cybersecurity has been a serious concern of state management agencies, institutions, businesses and people for the past 4-5 years.

Laws and regulations on cybersecurity have been perfected in recent years, while more activities related to the field have been organized. All these show that Vietnam’s awareness and actions have become much better than in 2020 GCI.

As an expert who has been working in the field of information security for over 20 years, the president of VSEC (Vietnamese Security Network JSC), Truong Duc Luong, said that at the national level, the near-perfect score given to Vietnam shows its strong commitments, especially if noting that countries with GDP income per capita higher than Vietnam’s rank below Vietnam in GCI.

Luong said Vietnam’s commitments have been realized by a series of actions by the Party and the State, including the Politburo’s Resolution 30 on national cybersecurity strategy (2018), two important laws (Law on Network Security in 2015 and Law on Cybersecurity (2018), which consist of articles regulating management and giving instructions on cooperation in the field of information safety and cybersecurity.

Many regulations have been issued such as ensuring information system security at all levels, clearly defining the fields belonging to national critical infrastructure and protecting personal data. These are also the factors of the pillar of legal status highly appreciated in 2024 GCI.

Also, Vietnam has set technical regulations, especially with the presence of VNCERT (now VNCERT/CC - Vietnam Cybersecurity Emergency Response Teams/Coordination Center) as the focal unit coordinating emergent aid throughout the nation, and the presence of NCSC (The National Cyber Security Centre) with the role of supervising cyberspace. 

In addition, there are supervision centers that monitor national key infrastructure under the management of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) and Ministry of National Defence.

However, Luong pointed out that agencies and organizations are facing challenges, including an increase in legal compliance costs, and training and technology costs.

Meanwhile, Anh from VNISA proposed new regulations to make information security and safety standards mandatory, not only for national infrastructure systems and digital platforms, but also as standards for Internet services provided to the general public.

Van Anh