A man surfing the Internet using free wifi connections in the northern port city of Hai Phong City. Photo: Luu Quang Pho
Public Wi-Fi is inherently unsecure and such services in several Vietnam cities are not immune from that, the country’s top network security has warned.
BKAV Corporation has said in a report released last month that hackers can intercept user’s information such as accounts, passwords or credit card numbers in WiFi- friendly cities — Da Nang, Hai Phong, Hoi An, or Ha Long.
These cyber attacks may be carried out in three major ways: Man-in-the-Middle, Phising and SSID Spoofing, the BKAV report said.
It said hackers can capitalize on Wi-Fi networks which are short of security screening measures tailor-made for the convenience of users.
Bkav ranked the danger level as high in its ranking system that includes low, medium, high and critical.
It recommended that users use the virtual private network (VPN) when logging in their private accounts like email, social network and online transactions.
Devices should also be installed antivirus software and firewall turned on for better protection, the report said.
Public Wi-Fi is almost everywhere in Vietnam, which ranks 7th in Asia and 18th worldwide in terms of Internet usage, according to the 2014 White Book on Vietnamese Information and Communication Technology.
More than 33 million Vietnamese used the Internet in 2013, an increase from 31 million in 2012,
The country ranked eight among 148 countries in term of lowest communication and Internet charges, according to the White Book, released in October by the Ministry of Information and Communications.
Roughly 37 percent of the country’s population are online — that’s 22.3 million broadband subscribers and 17.2 million 3G subscribers, the White Book said.
Đăng ký: VietNam News