Financial and securities companies face major cybersecurity risks

On October 2, Vietnam Report announced the list of top 10 prestigious companies in the financial industry in 2024, including securities companies such as SSI, Techcom Securities, VPS, HSC, VNDIRECT... and financial companies such as FE Credict, Home Credit, EVN Finance...

After a difficult year in 2023, in the first 6 months of 2024, the group of financial enterprises in general has recovered. Statistics for the group of 20 largest securities companies show that the total profit after tax is equal to the total profit before tax in 2022 and nearly 75% of the corresponding figure in 2023; total assets increased by 18.4% compared to the beginning of the year. For financial companies, there are currently 16 units licensed to operate. According to the State Bank, the total assets of financial companies reached 303,000 billion VND. This is a small number compared to more than 18.18 million billion VND of the group of Vietnamese commercial banks.

Securities companies face top challenge: cybersecurity

According to a survey by Vietnam Report, the financial industry is facing four challenges. Leading among them are technological risks such as cyber security, data leaks, and increased financial crimes. Next are increasing bad debts, potential risks to system safety; the market demands higher quality financial products, and competition among businesses in the industry.

Cyber ​​security has become one of the important issues for securities companies. Securities companies often store and process large amounts of sensitive information such as customer data, financial transactions and investment strategy information. This makes them the target of cyber attacks aimed at stealing data, disrupting business operations or even destroying trading systems. Cyber ​​security risks not only cause financial damage but also affect business reputation and customer confidence. In 2024, a typical incident was that VNDIRECT securities was attacked by ransomware - a type of malware designed to encrypt data on the system and demand a ransom to decrypt it. The above incident completely paralyzed trading activities for nearly 10 days. Although customers' assets were still guaranteed, the above incident also left extremely serious consequences on investors' psychology.

From here, higher requirements for the security of the trading system need to be ensured. Two-thirds of securities companies responding to Vietnam Report's survey are planning to increase their budget for security and cybersecurity programs by 6-14% in the next 3 years, one-third of which plan to increase their budget by over 10%...

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cong-ty-tai-chinh-chung-khoan-doi-dien-voi-rui-ro-lon-ve-an-ninh-mang-185241002115812982.htm