Vietnamese’s use of domestic digital platforms recorded a year-on-year rise of 23.5% in August, with 494 million users. According to data from the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), Vietnamese citizens spent more than 934 million hours on local platforms, making up 13.77% of the total time they spent on all digital platforms.
On average, smartphone users spent 9.93 hours on Vietnamese digital platforms in August, up 11.44% from July and 4.67% from January this year. Five local platforms reported more than 10 million users monthly.
Digital platform users on mobile devices have been on the rise as the number of new app downloads hit about 312 million, surging 19% compared to that in July. With this momentum, Vietnam is projected to maintain 7th place in the number of new app downloads globally.
As the use of smartphones and electronic devices increases globally, safety and cybersecurity measures must be enhanced. The country has become a lucrative target of cyber criminals. In addition, a large number of the population unwittingly installs cracked software, a consequence of a lack of awareness about cyber criminals and cybercrime tactics.
In August, the government issued a national cybersecurity strategy to respond to challenges and crimes in cyberspace. The strategy sets objectives for 2025 as well as has a vision for 2030. MIC laid out the major tasks and solutions in the strategy, including strengthening the overall management of the state over cybersecurity, completing legal frameworks, and protecting national sovereignty in cyberspace. It aims to maintain or increase Vietnam’s ranking on the global cybersecurity index (GCI).
The government will also safeguard digital infrastructure, platforms, data, and national cyberinfrastructure. It will protect the information systems of state agencies as well as crucial sectors that need to be prioritised to ensure information security. The country will foster digital trust and build an honest, civilized, and healthy network environment. It will prevent and combat law violations in cyberspace and enhance technological mastery and autonomy to actively cope with cyberspace challenges. The government will train and develop human resources in cybersecurity, raise awareness about cybersecurity skills, and work to secure funding to implement cybersecurity initiatives. The strategy also aims to improve national prestige and foster international integration.
Meanwhile, incident response teams of 11 priority sectors for network information security will be formed. The key areas include transport, energy, natural resources and environment, information, health, finance, banking, defence, security, social order and safety, urban areas and the government’s direction and administration.
In September, the government emphasised the importance of closely monitoring different cyber-attack methods on smartphones and being more cautious when launching applications on them. As OpenGov reported, the Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Information Security Association (VNISA), Tran Minh Triet, had urged every province and municipality to develop its own strategic plan for information security, corresponding with its actual digital transformation status and capacity. He said that more piloting schemes must be carried out to check whether important information systems can survive major incidents.