Vietnam tightens national sovereignty protection in cyberspace

Vietnam will tighten national sovereignty protection in cyberspace via early detecting, fighting and preventing attacks in cyberspace.

Minister of Public Security General To Lam made the statement at a national symposium on ensuring national sovereignty in cyberspace held by the Ministry of Public Security and the Truth National Political Publishing House in Hanoi on December 8.

Lam said ensuring national sovereignty in cyberspace is safeguarding the national sovereignty, adding that the Vietnamese Party and State have issued many policies to ensure information safety and security so as to contribute to ensuring national sovereignty in cyberspace.

“These policies and stances have been realized in specific strategies such as the strategy for national protection in cyberspace, the national border protection strategy, the national cyber security strategy, and the Law on Cyber Security,” he stressed.

At the national symposium. Photo: Nhat Nam

“With the rapid development of the Internet, non-traditional security issues, including cybersecurity and the task of ensuring national sovereignty in cyberspace, are of the utmost importance in the cause of national construction and defense,” Lam added.

He cited a report by the International Criminal Police Organization as saying that high-tech crimes ranked second among the most dangerous types of crimes, after terrorism, and 90% of traditional criminals have moved into the cyber environment or have used high-tech devices.

Therefore, the issue of developing and mastering cyberspace has become one of the urgent tasks that many countries have paid special attention to.

“To meet the increasing requirements of the task of ensuring national sovereignty in cyberspace, Lam asked the public security force to continue stepping up the implementation of measures to ensure cybersecurity, and fight against crimes in cyberspace,” Lam said.

Besides, he encouraged them to improve the quality of training in information technology and cybersecurity and promote cooperation with countries, universities, and the world’s tech giants to learn new technologies and experience in ensuring cybersecurity to meet the requirements of the new situation.

For his part, Head of the Party Central Committee's Commission for Internal Affairs Phan Dinh Trac said that national sovereignty in cyberspace is the supreme, absolute and complete right that the State regulates and controls directly or indirectly through policies, laws, and technological capacity in accordance with international law.

In order to improve the effectiveness of State management in this issue, Trac emphasized the need to build a healthy cyber-environment and a competent specialized force, and proactively deal with all risks occurring in cyberspace.

The event, connecting online with headquarters of the provincial-level police departments in all 63 provinces and municipalities, saw the attendance of around 2,200 officials from central agencies and localities.

According to Lieutenant General Do Le Chi, the conference aims to clarify theoretical and practical issues related to the protection of national sovereignty in cyberspace in the current context and discuss the tasks of protecting national security in cyberspace mentioned in the documents of the 13th National Party Congress.

In order to disseminate the outcomes of the conference to the public, the Organizing Committee will compile outstanding reports in two publications. The first will contain general concepts on national security and national security protection in cyberspace while the second will discuss the role of the Public Security Forces in protecting national security in cyberspace. The publications will be available in both paper books and e-book at Stbook.vn and Thuviencoso.vn.