Vietnam's information, communications and technology industries have grown quickly over the past 10 years. The Vietnamese government has high hopes for the future; 61 wants the country to become a center for Information Technology Services in the years to come.
But to capture its share of the knowledge economy, experts say Vietnam 62 to do more to deal with cyber security issues.
One major problem is malicious computer software, 63 (know) as malware. Malware programs are used to damage computer operations, steal information 64 gain entry to private computer systems.
Michael Mudd says Vietnam is among the top five suppliers of malware and spam messages in the world. He says the country is facing a crisis, mainly 65 lack of knowledge about the issue.
“In the countries that 66 (involve) in IT for longer, they are more aware of anti-virus programs. 67 I go in Vietnam, I look in places and offices and stuff like this, and 68 (hard) any computer, apart from the very big ones, are protected by any anti-virus program at all,” he explained.
The use of pirated software is one of the main ways malware can infect computers systems.
The Business Software Alliance says about 81 percent of the computers in Vietnam use pirated copies of software programs. Michael Mudd says infected computers could take up to 20 percent of available bandwidth, 69 (cause) major economy loses.
To deal with the problem, he says, Vietnam does not need more “antivirus scientists with four-year college degrees”. He says the country 70 needs an army of IT experts who can care for computer systems and remove malware already loaded in the machines.