THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM

THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

The 1st Khmer Model ASEAN Meeting (KHMAM) 2020

Theme: ASEAN in the Post-Pandemic World

Topic:Strengthening ASEAN’s Cybersecurity in a Time of Pandemic

Delegates: Mr. SilalahiRonaldi,Senior Official& Mr.ChhoeurmPhearun, Minister

Cybersecurity is the protection of electronic information or data from harmful attacks in terms of
technology utilizations. In general, the benefit of cybersecurity is to protect and prevent misuse of access
and use of data in the Information Technology system from someone who does not have the right to
access or utilize data in the system. In Southeast Asia Region, cybersecurity in many nations, especially
ASEAN member states, is one of the main concerns affecting political security within the region. Based
on the Asia Foundation, 2018, with the number of 480 million of ASEAN citizens are able to access to
internet in 2020, ASEAN is recognized as the fastest growing internet region in the world. 1Due to the
rapid growth of social media users among ASEAN citizens whose technological competence is still poor,
millions of them have fallen victim to cyberattacks. For instance, as a middle-income country and fast-
technological development nation in ASEAN,Vietnam citizens is ranked 13 th in the world as a country
with the most internet accessibility; however, thousands of computers were infected with malware and
4,000 websites were attacked in 2019.2 As a measure, Vietnam government has taken various actions
against cyber threats, especially in the time of pandemic.
In 2015, ASEAN Leaders has agreed to establish The ASEAN Political Security Community
(APSC) which aims to build ASEAN a cohesive, peaceful, stable, and resilient region. Due to the fast-
development of technology, cyber threats have become the concern issue that ASEAN have been taking
actions in driving greater regional cybersecurity cooperation and capacity building, including law
enforcement training on cybersecurity and cybercrimes. ASEAN has taken actions and established
agreements on cybersecurity and accomplished a lot such as The ASEAN Cybersecurity Cooperation
Strategy, Annual Cyber SEA Games, ASEAN Leaders and Ministers affirming at the 31st ASEAN
Summit and the second ASEAN Ministerial Conference on Cybersecurity, Regional Cybersecurity
capacity building activities like the annual ASEAN CERT Incident Drills (ACID), Council for Security
Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP), The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), The ASEAN Network
Security Action Council (ANSAC), and so on.
ASEAN has committed to work hand in hand in order to accomplish cyber norms; however,
norms in recent years are still under discussing and developing to reduce the conflict in cyberspace due to
the lack of attributing the reliable source. Although, an agreement on cyber norms was agreed by the
international community in 2015 to integrate them into national and international strategies; but, in 2017,
the members of the United Nations Group of Governmental Experts on Developments in the Field of
Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security (UNGGE) did not reach the
consensus, resulting in uncertainty of implementation.

1
“Why ASEAN Needs to Invest More on Cybersecurity,” The Asia Foundation, 2008, accessed October 17, 2020,
https://asiafoundation.org/2018/05/09/why-asean-needs-to-invest-more-in-cybersecurity/
2
“Vietnam Facing Cybersecurity Challenges,” Vietnam News, 2019, accessed October 17, 2020,
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/570476/viet-nam-facing-cybersecurity-challenges.html
 Moreover, during the time of global pandemic, in the ASEAN senior officials’ meeting,ASEAN
member countries agreed to support Vietnam’s proposal to issue the ASEAN+3 Declaration on
Economic and Financial Self-Reliance to respond to challenges. Secretary-General of ASEAN Dato
Lim Jock Hoi said promoting regional cybersecurity cooperation between ASEAN members is
absolutely important to recover this community into new normal in the post-pandemic. 3
For the past actions before the outbreak of Covid-19, like other ASEAN nations, Vietnam also has
created a cybersecurity strategy to prevent and respond to cyberattacks through a focus on national key
networks such as transport, banking, aviation, and ministries. In 2015, a law on cyber-information
security (LCIS) was passed to protect information. On the military side, in 2018, Vietnam established a
Cyber Command to protect military and ensure the safety and security information systems.
During this pandemic, being an active member of ASEAN, Vietnam has cohesively and
responsively worked with other member states to seeking for solutions to maintain cybersecurity in the
region. Taking the role as the Chair of ASEAN in 2020, Vietnam government has conducted online
conference with ASEAN members to discuss the risk of cyberattacks within the region during pandemic.
In the conference, Lương Tam Quang, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Public Security, stated that
Vietnam’s commitment to cohesively and responsively taking part in ASEAN co-operative
mechanisms on cybersecurity. Vietnam also finalized a legal framework on cybersecurity and
implemented the 'National Digital Transformation Programme towards 2025, which aims of making
Vietnam to be one among 50 leading e-government countries.
Accordingly, since there are only four ASEAN countries have clearly defined agencies
responsible for cybersecurity such as Singapore (Cyber Security Agency of Singapore), Malaysia
(CyberSecurity Malaysia), the Philippines (Department of Information and Communications
Technology), and Indonesia (Badan Siber dan Sandi Negara, the Cyber Body and National Encryption
Agency).4Since ASEAN member states have different stages of cybersecurity policy development, (1)
Vietnam would like to encourage all ASEAN membersto establish agencies responsible for cybersecurity
as soon as possible.(2) Vietnam would like to urge and enforce all ASEAN members to cooperate in
tackling regional cyber threats by improving each nation’slegal framework and regulations in preventing
safety and security of information systems.(3) Because ASEAN has not completely achieved cyber
norms, Vietnam would like to suggest each member to strengthen ASEAN academics in the field of
cybersecurity to discuss cooperation and the improvement of cyber norms.

3
“Vietnam Commits to Cybersecurity Co-operation with ASEAN: deputy minister,” The Nation Thailand,2020, accessed
October 16, 2020, https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30395818
4
“Cybersecurity in Southeast Asia,” Asia Center, 2018, accessed October 16, 2020, https://centreasia.eu/wp-
content/uploads/2018/12/NotePre%CC%81sentation-AngRaska-Cybersecurity_180518.pdf