AI increases the risk of cyberattacks exponentially

At the Vietnam Information Security Day 2024 Conference and Exhibition held on November 21st in Hanoi, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Bui Hoang Phuong stated that 2024 marks a significant leap forward for Vietnam in the field of information security, demonstrated by its rise to 17th place out of 194 countries in the global cybersecurity ranking.

The number of cyberattacks in the first nine months of the year decreased by 55% compared to the same period last year. The national monitoring system processed more than 10.5 billion messages, successfully blocked more than 14,552 malicious websites, and protected more than 11.32 million users.

Online fraud remains a complex issue, with hundreds of thousands of reported cases. The fact that over 90% of surveillance cameras originate from foreign sources raises concerns about national data security. Notably, our cybersecurity workforce is still quite modest, with approximately 38,000 people, primarily concentrated in the private sector.

Along with that pace of development, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Bui Hoang Phuong also emphasized, "cyberattacks are constantly evolving with increasing sophistication and complexity, especially with the support of AI, the risks we face will increase exponentially."

Therefore, all agencies and organizations need to continuously improve information security capacity, proactively deploy information security assurance plans and maintain this work continuously."

2024 is considered the year of universalizing digital infrastructure, promoting the use of national digital platforms used uniformly nationwide and at each local level, contributing to improving data management capacity.

Information security must be given top priority. All important databases and national digital platforms must be protected according to the provisions of the Law on Information Security and the Law on Cyber Security.

According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hung, Chairman of VNISA, ensuring cybersecurity for national data infrastructure and digital platforms is also about protecting the national cyberspace and contributing to building a safe and solid foundation for digital transformation.

With such importance, ensuring security and safety for data infrastructure and digital platforms needs to be taken into consideration right from the beginning of construction, with the principle of ensuring safety at the highest level.

Ensuring information security must always go hand in hand with building and developing data infrastructure and digital platforms. This is also the responsibility of agencies, organizations and information technology and information security enterprises operating in Vietnam.

The program included the launch of the Information Security Practical Training Platform.

Speaking at the event, the leader of the Ministry of Information and Communications also proposed a number of key solutions to protect data infrastructure and national digital platforms in the coming period:

Build and perfect the legal system on protecting national critical digital infrastructure. Agencies and organizations must review and evaluate the overall status of information systems and deploy security at each level. Especially with national digital platforms, the principle must be strictly followed: if the system is not secure, it must not be put into use.

Develop a monitoring and early warning system for the national digital infrastructure. Agencies and organizations need to increase investment in information security, especially automated cyberattack detection and prevention systems, and the application of artificial intelligence. According to the Prime Minister 's directive, at least 10% of the IT budget must be allocated to information security.

Effectively and consistently implement information security measures according to the four-layer model, especially enhancing the capacity of the professional monitoring and protection layer and maintaining continuous and stable connection and information sharing with the National Monitoring Center.

Develop an incident response plan for information systems under management in accordance with regulations. Implement a plan for regular backup of systems and critical data to promptly restore system operation in the event of a cyberattack, especially data encryption.

Regularly and continuously use the Information Security Platforms developed and provided by the Ministry of Information and Communications to support agencies, organizations and businesses, including: Platform for management and detection, early warning of information security risks, Vietnam Information Security Drill Platform.

Chi Hieu

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