VietNamNet Bridge – Microsoft Vietnam and the Vietnam Information Security Association (VNISA) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), aimed at strengthening information security and privacy in Vietnam while addressing increasing security risks in the country.

The MoU marks another step forward in a long-term partnership between Microsoft and VNISA, as the two parties join hands to create more effective and practical efforts to build a safer and healthier Vietnam ICT industry.

With the IT industry boom and growing internet usage as well as mobile penetration locally, greater awareness of cybersecurity in Vietnam becomes critical. In today’s connected world, security and privacy threats are becoming increasingly more sophisticated and malicious. And as Vietnam pushes towards development and growth, widespread technology adoption will mean that these risk and threats will impact even more people over time.

Today’s MOU by VNISA and Microsoft is a positive and meaningful move towards reducing security and privacy threats and risks, which would in turn significantly contribute to the role of technology in creating sustainable socio-economic development.

Under the MOU framework, VNISA and Microsoft Vietnam will work closely together to regularly update as well as share security issues and best practices on cybersecurity from Vietnam and over the world, including information on security breaches, cybercrime, malware, the latest hacking attacks and Vietnamese legal regulations on cybersecurity. Microsoft will collaborate with VNISA in consulting Vietnamese organisations to implement security solutions for their business. Microsoft will also collaborate with VNISA to develop talent for ICT Security in Vietnam, especially in the mobile and cloud areas.

“Cybercrime trends are changing and becoming more sophisticated – gradually moving from targeting individuals to organizations and even government bodies. The partnership between Microsoft Vietnam and VNISA to strengthen privacy and cybersecurity is essential in creating a safer technology environment for consumers, businesses and the government in Vietnam,” said Mr Cesar Cernuda, president of Microsoft Asia Pacific. “At Microsoft, we believe that security and privacy are huge societal challenges that demand deep collaboration and continuous improvement. Security and privacy are top priorities for us and we approach this comprehensively in four areas – Cybersecurity, Data Privacy, Compliance & Certifications and Transparency. We look forward to working closely with VNISA to build greater trust in technology so that more individuals and organizations in Vietnam can do more and achieve more.”

Nguyen Duy Ngoc, president of VNISA said, “Cybersecurity is emerging as a key concern for government bodies, organizations and enterprises in recent years. Many national-level conferences and events on cybersecurity organised by the government such as Vietnam Information Security Day, have attracted the community’s interest, which has in turn raised public and social awareness on the topic.”

Speaking at the event, Vu Minh Tri, general director of Microsoft Vietnam shared that billions of Vietnamese dong were lost from a series of hacking attacks on VCCorp’s large websites in five days from October 13 to18, 2014 and the 745 websites attacked within a week in late August to early September 2014.

“These figures are making users afraid of online services. Enterprises are anxious to questions like: How to ensure safety when posting information, using applications and services on the internet, how to protect users from online risks or how to protect against being hacked. Microsoft has always viewed privacy and security across our products and technology solutions as a top priority. Through the MOU signing today with VNISA, Microsoft will support and work with VNISA in the necessary activities to enhance and optimize privacy and security in Vietnam,” Tri said.

VIR/VNN