A man codes virus ransomware. Photo by Shutterstock/Maksim Shmeljov. 

Vietnam recorded 2,017 cyber attacks on its information systems in the first half of 2020, down 27.1 percent year-on-year. 

According to the Department of Information Security under the Ministry of Information and Communications, there were a total of 805 phishing, 788 defacing and 296 malware attacks in the first six months, down 27.1 percent compared to the same period last year and 26 percent from the second half of last year.

In June, there were 2,117,083 Vietnamese IP addresses linked to botnets, a collection of internet-connected devices infected by malware that allow hackers full control, down by 4.5 percent compared to May but up 54.5 percent against the same period last year.

The ministry said it will ramp up safety efforts in the second half of this year by urging ministries and other government agencies to spend at least 10 percent of their budgets on cybersecurity.

According to the Department of Information Security, the ratio was 7.87 percent last year.

The department said better coordination between organizations had helped lower the number of cyber attacks.

In 2019, for the first time, Vietnam was ranked by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) among the group of countries and territories with high commitment to cybersecurity, placing 50th among 175, up 50 spots compared to 2017.