Businesses of all shapes and sizes are taking information security much more seriously, Photo: shutterstock

Ken Huen, regional sales manager of CDNetworks Global, arrived in Hanoi on June 23 from Thailand to attend the Vietnam Security Summit 2022 to explore business opportunities here.

“Vietnam is a high-potential market for us where the technology market is developing strongly, and data protection is on the rise with a number of regulations from the government. Companies in industries like banking and insurance are more concerned about cybersecurity to protect systems and to ensure growth,” Huen told VIR.

CDNetworks, based in Singapore, has yet to establish a representative office and company in Vietnam. “We will study opportunities and consider this in the future,” Huen added. “We are targeting banks, fintech, and e-commerce.”

Like CDNetworks, dozens of domestic and international information security (IS) solutions providers also took part in the Vietnam Security Summit, including Arcon, Sonic, DTAsia, Viettel, Mobifone, NTS, PAMA, Trellix, ASIC, and Chainos Solution JSC among others.

Indian-headquartered Arcon, which was established in 2006, now has a strong footprint in the UK, the US, and elsewhere. Arcon’s IS solutions are now provided in Vietnam by Sonic Technology Solutions. Phan Viet Linh, product manager of Sonic, said that despite entering Vietnam only this year, Arcon solutions are widely among the best sellers in the country.

“Vietnam’s digital transformation is being promoted. This will require more IS. Arcon is promoting its solutions in Vietnam and the Asia-Pacific region,” he told VIR. “We have worked with some clients in telecoms, banking and finance, and the public sector, and we expect to reach more businesses in 2023.”

With Arcon, the portfolio of products distributed by Sonic is lengthening. They include Cybexer, Extrahop, HelpSystems, InfoExpress, Niagara Networks, Qualys, and Wedge Network.

Seeing the huge potential, ASIC Consulting and Technologies Services JSC has become the distributor of IS brands including Niagara Network Visibility and Synopsys. ASIC’s partners are Keysight Technologies, Hex-rays, Bluetest.se, TDK, Candela Technologies, and others.

“The working model at businesses has changed toward working online. Businesses now pay more attention to IS and that is why we promote these solutions,” said a representative of ASIC. “Synopsys is expanding the Vietnamese market, expanding its distribution network through marketing campaigns.”

According to various policymakers, industry leaders, and experts at the summit, government agencies and businesses are more concerned about IS as their operations are going digital. This has increased the demand for solutions, thus bringing about more opportunities for vendors.

In the past, organisations and businesses considered the development of applications with features according to user requirements as key, while IS was only an additional feature. Today, ensuring it for platforms must be implemented from the design stage as one of the most important features.

According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, ensuring cyber IS for digital platforms is a top priority and an integral task in the digital transformation process. At present, the development, promotion, and implementation of digital platforms are considered a breakthrough solution to accelerate the digital transformation process in the country.

At the Hanoi summit, participants also discussed measures to strengthen cybersecurity for digital government, the protection of corporate data security in the digital era, and the harnessing of the power of exponential technologies against emerging cyber threats.

Pham Minh Tuan, deputy head of the Cyber Security Assessment section under the Government Information Security Commission’s Centre for IT and Cyber Security Monitoring, said that it is necessary to focus on ensuring the security of critical info at each level of the system in order to ensure security in the future.

“It is crucial to apply comprehensive measures to protect IS, including monitoring, assessing, and effectively responding to related incidents,” he stressed.

Nguyen Minh Hai, a technology solution expert from cybersecurity solution provider Fortinet Vietnam, added that protection solutions should be applied differently in accordance with different levels and types of information networks. “Ensuring safety and security is a prerequisite to ensuring the sustainable existence of all organisations and businesses in the digital age,” Hai said.

According to the government’s IS Commission, in 2021, more than 45,000 out of almost 77,000 cyber attacks on some key network systems were carried out in the form of exploiting vulnerabilities. There were about 14,000 network scanning attacks, over 12,000 targeted attacks, more than 7,300 authentication attacks, nearly 7,000 malware attacks, and about 650 denial-of-service attacks.

The commission blamed the use of software without copyright, and users’ lack of awareness of cybersecurity. The number of cyber attacks is rising, bringing more threats to the development of a digital government, digital economy, and digital society. So far this year, the commission has detected more than 48,000 attacks targeting major networks.

Nguyen Huy Dung - Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Ensuring network IS for national digital platforms also protects national cyberspace. Therefore, it is considered a top priority and an integral task. Platform developers need to spend at least 20-30 per cent of their investment on cybersecurity features. With that, cybersecurity assurance is carried out methodically, professionally, and without patchwork. The Ministry of Information and Communications is promoting, developing, and using national digital platforms. The ministry hopes that businesses providing digital platforms will accompany and participate in the programme towards developing a sustainable digital future.

Trang Nguyen - Marketing leader, Pama With digital transformation being accelerated, people are more aware of the importance of data security. In the past, only powerful enterprises and government agencies paid attention to IS, but now smaller businesses and even end-users also do. We see more growing demand and higher growth potential in the market, with different levels of attention and solutions. We are the distributor of related solutions and products from the Czech Republic, and famous brands worldwide. Our products are mainly about cybersecurity, network security, telecommunications, and special technologies for national defense and security, while our key targeted customers are ministries, state agencies, banks, financial agencies, and also telecommunications service operators. Foreign-made solutions from famous brands are being favoured in the market because of their efficiency and case studies of success. In the upcoming time, we will focus on our strengths and explore new solutions and products to meet local demand.

Vu Pham - Deputy IT director, Hanel Five years ago, investment in IS among businesses remained limited, leading to big IS risks. In recent times, the market has become more appealing. Now, digital transformation is being accelerated in industries and sectors, bringing about benefits to businesses and putting their business activities into digital platforms, but causing more IS risks for them. IS becomes their top priority when companies put their assets in the digital environment. With 38 years of experience in the IT industry, we have introduced solutions for IT architecture consulting and information security supervision with high quality and optimal cost to support businesses in their digital transformation journey. The government, as well as powerful enterprises in banking and elsewhere, have been increasingly spending on IS. With that, we are targeting small and medium-sized enterprises in order to provide affordable service packages to support them.