Individuals should be aware of personal information protection: Minister

Minister of Public Security Gen. To Lam on August 10 stressed the need for each individual to protect personal information, especially on the cyberspace, when responding to deputies’ queries regarding the disclosure and sale of personal information on social networks at a Q&A session during the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee’s 14th meeting.

Minister of Public Security To Lam speaks at the session. (Photo: quochoi.vn)
Minister of Public Security To Lam speaks at the session. (Photo: quochoi.vn)

Lam said that the problem of personal information disclosure in the world and Vietnam is alarming, while the legal corridor on this issue has not been completed, and people's awareness of personal information protection remains low.

Therefore, the Ministry of Public Security has implemented a number of solutions, firstly building and perfecting the legal corridor on personal data protection.

He said that the ministry is submitting to the Government for approval a decree on personal data protection, and plans to study and consult the Government to submit to the NA for the promulgation of a law on personal data protection.

The minister also stressed the importance of stepping up dissemination to raise public awareness of protecting personal information.

According to him, the ministry is dealing with thousands of attacks on the national population database system, with many from outside the country.

Answering the question of deputy Cam Thi Man from Thanh Hoa province about limitations in the field of cybersecurity, Lam emphasised five problems, including an incomplete legal corridor; unpractical coordination between units and agencies in cybersecurity; ineffective and untimely inspections on cybersecurity; most platforms, over-the-top (OTT) media service, and social networking applications of foreign legal entities not having representative offices in Vietnam; and loopholes in the management of services that are at high risk of losing cybersecurity such as virtual currency, trading of junk SIMs, and virtual bank cards.

Accordingly, the ministry will promote activities of the National Steering Committee for Cybersecurity and Safety, perfect the inter-sectoral coordination mechanism to handle cases concertedly, complete the legal corridor, and raise the qualifications and equipment of the cybersecurity and high-tech crime prevention and control forces, added Lam.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung speaks at the session. (Photo: quochoi.vn)

Clarifying several issues of common concern, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung said that false information on the cyberspace is currently mainly on cross-border platforms.

Regarding institutional improvement, Hung stated that several decrees on the management of cross-border platforms have been revised and are expected to be issued in the third quarter of 2022.