Published on: March 29, 2024

In the first cyberattack of its kind in Vietnam, an international bad actor has hacked into the computer systems of VNDirect, the third largest brokerage firm in Vietnam. The late March attack compelled Vietnam’s State Securities Commission (SSC) to disconnect VNDirect from the stock exchange to prevent the breach from affecting other brokerage firms.

The move led to a 4% drop in VNDirect’s share price and a 10% drop in transaction volumes on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange as the customers of the stricken brokerage firm were unable to trade.

“We do not see [the] risk of contagion,” the chairman of the SSC said. Despite the reassurances, the price of Vietnam’s benchmark stock index declined 1.1% on 26 March.

“VNDirect’s cybersecurity breach [cast] a shadow over market sentiment,” a broker at Mirae Asset Securities reported.

VNDirect would not elaborate on the nature of the cyberattack, but it told regulators that the assets of its customers were not affected. Three days after the attack, VNDirect’s trading system was still suspended.

The incident marked the first time that a Vietnamese brokerage firm had been hacked by cyber criminals.

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, now a subsidiary of the Vietnam Stock Exchange, started operating in 2000 after Vietnam’s communist government began implementing free market reforms in the mid-1980s. The exchange had only two listings when it first opened, but it now has more than 500, reflecting the astronomical growth of Vietnam’s economy.

At the time of reunification in 1975, Vietnam was one of the poorest countries in the world. Since 2000, however, it’s had one of the world’s fastest growing economies, outpacing the growth of even China. Per capita GDP has increased 23 fold, and today, Vietnam has the 35th largest economy in the world.

Unfortunately, cyberattacks are a cost of Vietnam’s economic transformation and integration into the global economy. Reported cyberattacks in Vietnam increased by nearly 10% between 2022 and 2023. China, Vietnam’s historical enemy, is thought to be behind many of the cybersecurity breaches that have stricken the country since 2012.

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• Source: https://www.safetydetectives.com/news/cyberattack-disrupts-trading-on-vietnamese-stock-exchange/