Cybercrime demo opens eyes of business people

Tiếng Việt

Cybercrime demo opens eyes of business people

Two HCMC business people said an RMIT Vietnam workshop held in the University’s new Cyber Security and Logistics Lab had been a huge eye-opener into the enormity of cybercrime and the measures needed to fight it.

General Director of global travel company ITA, David Watson, and ATM security expert Duncan Stirling of OnlyATMS were among around 40 business people attending a recent workshop held by Associate Professor Matthews Nkhoma and colleagues from the Centre of Commerce and Management.

Also attending was Senior Manager in IT Advisory Services at Ernst and Young Vietnam, Dung Nguyen Bui, who briefed the business people on measures his company takes with clients to prevent cybercrime.

Mr Watson said that as a business person he understands just how easy it is to lose valuable information.

“Business security is a great mystery to many IT people and the majority of business people; senior managers are making 80 per cent of the company’s decisions and they know very little about technology.

“A company can spend big money setting up a business but at the same time people can be ripping off their shopfront which, these days, is IT-based.

“I deal with fraud daily – on a bad day there are 50 to70 fraud attempts on our site. We’re always trying to find ways of shutting it down.”

Associate Professor Nkhoma, who specialises in information security and identity theft said the workshop was held in conjunction with the HCMC Australian Chamber of Commerce to raise awareness of cybercrime on Vietnam.

“We know professional criminals are targeting South East Asia because of its growing economy,” he said.

“The workshop aimed to show just how easy it is to hack into a system and compromise it. The question is: If you are attacked, do you know you are being attacked?”

Associate Professor Matthews Nkhoma lectures in Cyber Security & Logistics Lab

Opened in January 2016, the Cyber Security and Logistics Lab has sophisticated facilities to prepare students to step into high-demand jobs in computer security.

Mr Stirling, who works in ATM anti-skimming hardware in HCMC and mentioned a recent instance in Japan where 100 people stole $13m from ATM’s in two hours on a weekend, said workshops like the one at RMIT Vietnam had huge potential in the corporate area.

“The corporate market is not being well served by short courses in areas such as this,” he said.

Story: Sharon Webb

Business and management

Science and technology

17 June 2016