20% of Vietnamese online vulnerable to cyberthreats

Việt Nam's cybersecurity landscape improved in the second quarter of 2024 compared to a year earlier, but unrelenting vigilance should be a priority to prevent threats, according to global cybersecurity and digital privacy company Kaspersky.

Việt Nam's cybersecurity landscape improved in the second quarter of 2024 compared to a year earlier, but unrelenting vigilance should be a priority to prevent threats, according to global cybersecurity and digital privacy company Kaspersky.

It said it blocked 4.8 million web-borne threats on computers of Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) participants in Việt Nam between April and June 2024, down from 7.7 million in Q2 last year.

But nearly one in five Vietnamese users is still exposed to web-borne threats, it said.

When it comes to attack methods via browsers, cybercriminals continued to use two methods to spread malicious programmes, primarily exploiting vulnerabilities in browsers and plugins (drive-by download) and social engineering.

Drive-by download attacks occur when users unknowingly visit infected websites, while social engineering involves deceiving users into downloading malicious files disguised as legitimate programmes.

Threat actors are becoming increasingly sophisticated, often obfuscating malicious code to bypass static analysis and emulation.

While web threats have shown a decline, attacks by malware spread via removable USB drives, CDs and DVDs (local threats) remain a concern.

This highlights the ongoing need for comprehensive security measures.

Firewalls, anti-rootkit functionality and control over removable devices are essential to protect against offline infection methods.

The growing concern surrounding threat sources is further highlighted by Kaspersky's data, which shows a slight increase in the share of incidents caused by servers hosted in Việt Nam from 0.05 per cent in Q2 2023 to 0.06 per cent in Q2 2024.

Yeo Siang Tiong, the company’s general manager for Southeast Asia, said: "The positive improvement in Việt Nam’s overall cybersecurity landscape is a testament to the successful collaboration between the Vietnamese Government and Kaspersky.”

The joint initiatives, exemplified by the successful “Vietnam Business Defense” event organised in partnership with the Authoritative Information Security, have been instrumental in bolstering the nation's cyberdefence capabilities, he said.

Việt Nam’s digital landscape is undergoing a period of remarkable growth, fuelled by advancements in cloud computing, IoT, AI, blockchain, big data, data analytics, and the metaverse.

But Yeo warned: "These blossoming opportunities for development, on which the near future of production and business will depend heavily on, must be accompanied by a clear understanding of the evolving security challenges.

“Implementing comprehensive security solutions will be vital to ensuring the safe and sustainable growth of Việt Nam's digital future."

The company shared some tips for businesses to safeguard against cyber threats: backing up important data regularly to an external source or the cloud, keeping all devices, software and applications up-to-date with the latest security patches and updates and regularly updating knowledge to stay ahead of emerging threats.