Launch of 'Identify Scams' Campaign

On July 17, the Authority of Information Security, under the Ministry of Information and Communications, and Meta, the parent company of Facebook, launched the 'Identify Scams' campaign in Vietnam for 2024.

The campaign aims to educate social media users on how to effectively avoid online scams. It will focus on six out of 24 identified scam hotspots in Vietnam: Investment Scams, Job Scams, Financial Scams, Loan Scams, Lottery Scams, and Impersonation Scams.

Through a series of images and short videos, the campaign will provide guidance on recognizing and dealing with online scams. These materials will be available on Meta's social media platforms, the National Cybersecurity Center's (NCSC) channels, and Meta's website 'We Think Digital' at wethinkdigital.fb.com.

To maximize reach and impact, the campaign will feature contributions from prominent Vietnamese content creators who will share useful tips to help users protect themselves from online fraud.

Announcement of National Digital Platforms List

The Ministry of Information and Communications has published a comprehensive list of national digital platforms, information systems, and applications deployed across Vietnam from central to local levels.

Currently, the list includes 103 digital platforms managed by various ministries and departments nationwide.

Leading the list is the Ministry of Finance with 31 platforms, followed by the Ministry of Public Security with 11, and the Ministry of Construction with 10. The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Justice each have 9 platforms, while the Ministry of Transport has 8. The Ministries of Planning and Investment and Education and Training each oversee 7 platforms.

In an official dispatch dated July 15, the Ministry of Information and Communications emphasized that this list, compiled from proposals by various ministries, aims to promote the use of digital platforms nationwide, prevent duplication, and enhance local initiatives.

The ministry plans to update the list regularly on the website ndp.dx.gov.vn. Out of 29 ministries, agencies, and government bodies, 18 have already announced their digital platforms. The ministry is urging the remaining entities to submit their lists for publication.

Two Microsoft product vulnerabilities exploited by hackers

On July 12, the Authority of Information Security issued a warning about critical security vulnerabilities in Microsoft products, following the company’s July 2024 security patch update.

Among 139 vulnerabilities identified, 10 have been marked as high-risk. Notably, two of these are currently being exploited by hackers: CVE-2024-38080 in Windows Hyper-V, which allows privilege escalation attacks, and CVE-2024-38112 in the Windows MSHTML Platform, which facilitates spoofing attacks.

The department advises organizations nationwide to review and promptly update patches for affected Windows systems to mitigate risks and secure their networks against these exploits.

CrowdStrike incident disrupts global IT systems

A major technical failure at the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike has led to widespread disruptions in global IT systems.

The incident resulted in significant delays and cancellations at airports worldwide on the afternoon of July 19. It also affected banks in Australia, oil and gas exchanges in London and Singapore, stock exchanges in Hong Kong, brokerage firms in India, and financial institutions in Germany and South Africa.

CrowdStrike's CEO, George Kurtz, issued an apology for the global service outage, which disrupted various industries, including aviation, banking, and healthcare. The company confirmed that the disruption stemmed from a software update.

In Vietnam, Vietjet Air reported that the global Microsoft Cloud outage impacted its flight operations on July 19 between 11:30 and 14:30. Although the system resumed functioning at 14:30, some flights had to be rescheduled.

"Microsoft system errors were beyond the control and expectations of airlines and customers," said Vietjet.

By 18:00 on July 19, Vietjet announced that its booking and check-in systems had returned to stable operation.

Trong Dat