Challenges from the digital transformation process
The "Safe Digital Future for Small and Medium Enterprises" forum was held on August 21 under the direction of the National Cyber Security Association (NCA), co-organized by Vietnam Cyber Security Electronic Magazine, Asia Foundation and Duy Tan University, to accompany the business community in raising awareness of workers and the ability to ensure safety in cyberspace.
According to Chinhphu.vn, at the forum, experts said that the digitalization process helps small and medium-sized enterprises open up new development spaces from market expansion, operation optimization, customer access to artificial intelligence applications to improve productivity. However, the level of dependence on data and technology platforms is increasing.
Risks such as data leakage, online fraud, data encryption attacks, system disruption, digital asset loss or brand reputation impacts can have serious impacts on production and business activities.
For small and medium-sized enterprises, difficulties also come from limitations in financial resources, specialized personnel and the ability to invest in in-depth security solutions. Therefore, the important issue is not how many protection tools the enterprise owns, but the ability to identify risks, prevent, detect, respond and recover when incidents occur.
According to Colonel, Dr. Nguyen Hong Quan - Deputy Director of the Department of Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention (A05), Ministry of Public Security, Head of Data Security and Personal Data Protection Department, National Cyber Security Association, technology is creating great opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises.
A small-scale business can still expand its market through digital platforms, optimize resources and apply artificial intelligence (AI) to improve productivity. However, the more technology is applied, the more businesses depend on technology.
The assets of businesses today are not only capital or machinery, but also data, accounts, digital systems, brands and customer trust" - Colonel Nguyen Hong Quan emphasized.
Start right to form protection capabilities
According to experts, businesses do not necessarily have to start with large-scale security systems or investments beyond their capabilities. It is necessary to identify the right priorities and gradually build self-defense capabilities.
First of all, businesses need to consider cybersecurity as a management issue. The head needs to understand which system the business is dependent on, which data is important and the responsibility of each department when an incident occurs.
In addition, businesses need to shift from thinking "having security solutions" to "having real protection capabilities". Owning security tools but not updating them regularly, having data backups but never checking recovery capabilities, or having procedures but employees not knowing how to handle them, also does not create digital safety capabilities.
Another important requirement is to change the perspective on cybersecurity. This is not only a compliance obligation but also a factor that creates competitiveness. When businesses protect data, accounts, transactions and customer information well, the greatest value created is trust.
At the forum, many other topics were discussed such as protecting personal data in businesses, early identification of cyberattack risks, safe exploitation of AI, protection of business secrets and building a defense model suitable for the resources of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Experts agree that small and medium-sized enterprises do not need to start with an expensive system, but need to have minimal capacity to prevent correctly, detect early, respond promptly and recover quickly.
A digital business only truly develops sustainably when it has the ability to protect data, maintain operations and maintain the trust of customers and partners in the innovation process.
