A small progress

On December 18, 2023, the Prime Minister of Vietnam issued a directive to the State Bank of Vietnam to (emphasis mine):

Continue to promote digital transformation and innovation in banking and cashless payment activities, ensuring security and safety in payment and digital transformation activities, especially network security, preventing system intrusion to steal money from bank accounts.

(Tiếp tục đẩy mạnh chuyển đổi số, đổi mới sáng tạo trong hoạt động ngân hàng và thanh toán không dùng tiền mặt, bảo đảm an ninh, an toàn trong hoạt động thanh toán và chuyển đổi số, đặc biệt an toàn mạng, chống xâm nhập hệ thống lấy tiền trong tài khoản ngân hàng.)

This is the second time the Vietnamese Government has mentioned the issue of digital bank heist. The first time was in a press release from the Ministry of Public Security on June 5, 2022. At that time, the Ministry of Public Security said that foreign hackers had stolen large sums of money from domestic banks.

This is an issue that I, representing Calif, have continuously warned about over the past few years. Since 2021, we’ve met, advised, and provided direct assistance to various organizations in Vietnam. I’ve visited the country nearly 10 times — my family is there, so this is not a bad thing — meeting and working with various stakeholders, from bank leaders to members of the National Assembly, economic experts, theorists of the Communist Party of Vietnam, and representatives of the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi.

I'm proud of Calif's small contributions in helping reduce vulnerabilities and harden the security of critical national systems. This is our mission, and it’s also why I left Google, so I'm happy to have made some small progress.

We’ll continue to work diligently to contribute to mitigating this risk. Honestly, I hope I'm wrong, and that the situation is not as dire as I think. But what I've witnessed firsthand, combined with insights from other experts, has made me anxious.

The latest directive from the Prime Minister shows that this concern has reached the highest levels. To address a problem, first you have to admit there is a problem, so the directive is a welcome development.