Local internet service providers (ISPs) say they are taking action to overcome a serious flaw inherent in the Domain Name System (DNS) that could allow an attacker to re-direct unwilling web users to dangerous sites.
The Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Team (VNCERT) late last week alerted the local internet community to the appearance of the flaw in the system of host computers.
VNCERT said 95 percent of DNS servers in Vietnam were vulnerable to attacks. They could easily attack DNS Servers that have inappropriate configurations and change information on the system which would lead internet users to websites full of highly dangerous source codes.
“This is a very fundamental threat to the internet community in Vietnam, from internet users, ISPs, banks, to other internet-related activities,” said VNCERT’s director Vu Quoc Khanh.
The flaw in the DNS, an internet service that translates domain names into IP addresses, was uncovered by security researcher Dan Kaminsky, director of penetration testing for IOActive, and who used to work for Cisco and Avaya.
Kaminsky is known among computer security experts for his work on DNS cache snooping.
Viettel says it is coordinating with VNCERT and Kaminsky to update software, while service providers said they were continually scanning their networks for flaws and ready to fix any loopholes.
The flaw was uncovered six months ago. On March 31, 16 researchers from around the world met to resolve the problem, and agreed to coordinate the release of a patch for all platforms.
Meanwhile, the Bach Khoa Internet Security Centre (BKIS), a local internet security firm, on July 26 released online software named BKAVDNS Checky, which can scan and automatically detect the DNS flaw, and help users to fix it.
The software can be down-loaded by visiting: www.bkav.com.vn/DNSCheck/BkavDNSCheck.exe and also the repair software at www.bkav.com.Vn/DNSCheck/BkavDNSCheckGuide.html.
 

Viettel on Tuesday said it has a combined 20 million mobile phone subscribers by mid-June and became the biggest mobile carrier in terms of the number of subscribers in Viet Nam.
The military-run company, which made its debut in 2004, attributed the success to its broad coverage of its mobile services, which cover all 64 provinces and cities in Viet Nam.
The company in the same day introduced the I-share service, which allows its pre-paid subscribers to transfer deposit in mobile accounts via short message service (SMS).
 

The Vietnam Software Association (Vinasa) and the Game and Digital Content Business Club have complained to the Ministry of Information and Communications about the operations of Yahoo! in Vietnam.
Vinasa said that according to Decision 27, all organisations must have a licence of the Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communications to provide information on the Internet and have their own information websites. Websites of Yahoo! in Vietnamese which have .vn domain names are operating without licences.
According to Vinasa, Yahoo! is providing Yahoo! Mail in Vietnamese, Yahoo! Messenger in Vietnamese, Yahoo! Ask and Answer in Vietnamese, as well as Yahoo! Music in Vietnamese at Yahoo.com.vn though it doesn’t have an OSP licence.
The association also said that Yahoo!’s licence to set up a representative office in Vietnam doesn’t allow the representative office to conduct business activities or any lucrative activities in Vietnam.
Yet, Yahoo! has announced that four companies in Vietnam, Admax, FPT Online Advertising, GapIT and Golden, are Yahoo!’s authorised advertising agents in Vietnam. These partners will advertise and sell Yahoo’s online advertising products to companies in Vietnam and exploit advertising sale services in Vietnam.
Le Hong Minh, Vice Chairman of the Game and Digital Content Business Club, said Yahoo!’s above activities and similar activities of other foreign firms are worrying Vietnamese game and digital content service providers, who are trying to overcome difficulties and strictly obey the Vietnamese laws but have to compete against foreign rivals who are playing unfairly.
Yahoo!’s representative office opened in HCM City in August 2007 and in a short period of time after that Yahoo! Began providing various services targeting the Vietnamese market.
 

Representatives of PAvietnam said over half of the domain names that were deactivated in the morning on July 29 are operational again. However, many clients still can’t contact PAvietnam.
Most of the recovered websites bear international domain names .com, .net, .infor, etc., not national domain names like .vn, .com.vn.
PAvietnam is trying to contact its parent company, Enom in the US, to take back three significant domain names that it lost, .net., .com, dotvndns.com. The homepage of PA was temporarily locked for checking. PAvietnam has asked the police, the HCM City Department of Information and Communications and the Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Team to deal with this case.
PAvietnam said around over 2,000 websites were affected by the incident, which started on July 27.
Huynh Viet Phuong, Director of PAVietnam, said this incident occurred because the domain name system (DNS) couldn’t analyse IP so email and websites couldn’t run, but data is safe. The owners of the websites that are still being hacked can fix their pages by logging into the domain administration page to put in their IP address, instead of logging in via the domain name system (DNS) server.
Tran Quoc Trung, Director of Mai Nguyen Mobile Technology Company, the owner of muabandtdd.com, said his website also uses DNS service of PAVietnam and because of the hacking, connections to muabandtdd.com and raovatdtdd.com were redirected to beyeu.vn, but the websites had returned to operating normally.
Connections to an online market, 5giay.com, were also redirected to Yahoo and Google but Internet users currently can access this website via a sub-domain name provided by PAVietnam. However, the number of visitors to this website has fallen by one-sixth compared to before.
Many clients of PAVietnam are not as lucky as 5giay.com or raovatdtdd.com because they haven’t been able to contact PAVietnam to fix their problems.
The manager of a company which has two domain names at PAVietnam said his website was hacked and nearly hundreds of employees haven’t been able to work since late last week because the firm hasn’t been able to contact PAvietnam.
On some online forums, some people say they are clients of PAvietnam and are disappointed with this firm’s service because they couldn’t reach the service provider when the incident happened.
According to experts, in principle, DNS servers of .vn domain name service providers must use .vn domain name to ensure security but PAvietnam uses international domain names .com and .net, which enables hackers to steal passwords.
Tran Minh Tan, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Network Information Centre, said the centre has warned businesses not to use overseas DNS servers because the centre can’t intervene, as in the case of PAvietnam.
Tan said after this case, the centre will tighten regulations on domain name service providers by forcing them to use .vn domain name for their official websites and DNS server with .vn domain name to provide services for clients.
After sneaking into the domain server, the hackers changed the password, according to Nguyen Tu Quang, director of Bach Khoa Internet Securities Center. Later, they changed its international server from Encom.com to onlinenic.com and set the administration function for this new server. The IP hosting address of PA Vietnam was changed to 74.200.202.215.
The hacking was done by residents of Vietnam, Quang said. The hackers changed codes to redirect users to receive Vietnamese websites, but not international websites.
After repairing the server, the network engineers recognised that only the domain names which end with generic top-level domain extensions were being hacked, not those that end with “.vn,” the country code top-level domain extension.
Small- and medium-size enterprises should use “.vn” domain names as these domain names are protected by Vietnamese law and by the Vietnam Internet Network Information Centre, Quang said. If these sites are hacked, the centre can immediately resolve the issue because the hosting server is located in Vietnam.
Larger enterprises can use generic domain names, but they need to pay more attention to network security.
 

The 12th workshop on cooperation and development of IT and communications will be held on August 15-16 in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho.
Entitled 'ICT serving agriculture and rural development', the workshop will discuss measures to develop and promote IT applications, particularly in agriculture and rural development in Can Tho and other Mekong Delta provinces.
In parallel with the workshop, a small exhibition on ICT and a meeting of the provincial IT Association will be organised.
The Vietnam Association of Information Processing (VAIP) will release the Vietnam ICT Index 2007 report, which reviews the application of IT by all provinces, cities, ministries and central agencies in Vietnam in 2007.
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan and Minister of Information and Communication Le Doan Hop will attend the event.
This is an annual workshop held by the VAIP, the Ministry of Information and Communication, the HCM City Computer Association and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).
 

The Vietnam Software Engineering Group (SEG Vietnam), a cooperative between Vietnamese and US universities, is preparing to launch its first IT course this October.
With majors in software engineering and information system, the curriculum will include four-year university courses and short-term classes for businessmen.
Established last June, SEG Vietnam is a group of five Vietnamese universities and institutes and the US’s Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) which aims to offer the most professional software technology training in Vietnam as well as in the Asian region.
Additionally, it hopes to meet the demand for IT human resources in Vietnam and export IT workers to other markets.
The General Secretary of the Vietnam Software Association, Pham Tan Cong, says Vietnam’s IT human resource training and exports are welcomed in many countries.
In the US, Vietnam ranks 20th among 25 countries which are attractive in software engineering and was Japan’s most favoured IT partner last year. The UK and Denmark have also pledged to ensure jobs for trained Vietnamese IT workers.
According to the Ministry of Information and Communication, Vietnam now has 18,000 students in 93 universities, 156 colleges and 60 training centres studying information technology.
 

Prices of mobile phones will go up next time after the Ministry of Finance decided to increase the import tariff by 8%, replacing the old tax rate range from 0% to 5%.
The tax adjustment has become effective since June 20. However, the tariffs on mobiles phones imported from China and ASEAN remained unchanged, at 0% and 5%, respectively.
Huynh Van Thi, managing director of PV Telecom as an authorized Nokia distributor, forecasted that mobile phone prices would increase due to the tax adjustment.
Additionally, the higher dolllar/dong exchange rate will put a pressure on mobile retailers when they have to use the greenback to settle import deals, he said.
According to Thi, the mobile phone price on the local market has been slightly revised up, although not on a par with the new tariff as well as the appreciation of the dollar.
Bui Ngoc Khanh, director of FPT Mobile, also affirmed that the new tax change would force importers to increase price.
However, industry insiders said that retailers were taking advantage of the tax adjustment to increase prices because the new tax is only impacting on mobile phones imported from countries other than China and ASEAN.
The Ministry of Finance estimates 70% of imported mobile phones in the country comes from China and ASEAN countries and the remaining 30% from elsewhere.
Nguyen Van Phung, deputy head of the Tax Policy Department under the Ministry of Finance, told the Vietnam Post said that a huge number of mobile phones in the country were imported from China. Thus, the tax adjustment would not have any significant impact on local importers.
A source from The Gioi Di Dong, one of leading mobile retailers in Vietnam; also said that over 80% of mobile phones in the country are imported from China.
Do Ngoc Cuong, director of Viettel Importing and Exporting Company under the military-run Viettel, said now his company had not revised up prices since the new tax. 'However, we will consider a price increase,' he added.
The Ministry of Finance reported that the total expenditure on imported mobile phones in the first quarter this year reached US$273 million. At that time, half of imported mobile phones come from China, 17% from ASEAN member countries and South Korea, and the remainder from elsewhere.
The ministry forecasts that the total expenditure on imported mobile phones would reach US$1.2- 1.3 billion this year.
 

Amobile phone can be used as a camera, a TV and now as a medical device. Dr Nguyen Phuc Hoc, chief of the emergency ward at 199 Hospital in central Da Nang City, has developed software that can turn a mobile phone into a database of treatments and medical knowledge.
Hoc was born in 1955 and has worked as a doctor for 20 years. During his time in military service he not only achieved the rank of senior lieutenant-colonel, but also earned his MS medical degree. The idea for his mobile phone software, called H199, came to him last year after a deeply-affecting experience in the emergency room.
'A patient came into the emergency room in critical condition,' Hoc says. 'I was confused for several seconds because I didn’t know exactly what to do.'
'For a patient in an emergency situation, just a moment’s hesitation on the part of a doctor can have dangerous consequences. Immediately, I began thinking of some document that could help me in time.'
'In Viet Nam, mobile phones are now very popular,' Hoc says, 'So I thought it would actually be very convenient to have medical knowledge on a mobile phone. I began studying in preparation for the first version of H199.'
Many doctors at Hoang Mai Hospital in Ha Noi have installed H199 on their mobile phones, and it has become a useful and valuable resource, according to Dr Ngo Xuan Hoi.
'H199’s content is comprehensive, but it is also concise and easy to use,' says Hoi, 'anyone can use it quickly and effectively with just a few taps of the buttons and in a matter of seconds.'
For example, if you are bitten by a snake, information on appropriate first aid and symptoms to watch for are available on H199. With entries on over 360 types of illness, the software is nothing short of a mobile medical encyclopaedia.'
At first, H199 was considered an essential supporting tool for doctors, but now, more and more people outside the medical profession use it as an everyday 'life buoy'.
Nguyen Manh Cuong, who also lives in Da Nang City, experienced the H199 software and felt pleased with its advantages.
'Due to the nature of my job, I often have to join parties and drink wine with partners and colleagues,' he says. 'For a long time, I used to come home drunk. My wife even divorced me because she couldn’t stand it. Luckily, I heard about H199.'
'The software suggested a method to give up drinking and helped me become disinterested in drinking. Now, step by step, I am reducing my wine consumption. If Hoc had created H199 sooner, many men like me would have avoided the evil of wine,' says Cuong.
Preventing alcohol addiction is a need which Dr Hoc is aware of and has spent a lot of effort addressing.
'I feel confident in my knowledge on this topic and hope men will try my methods' Hoc says. 'In H199, I lay out an easy means of preventing alcohol addiction.'
'I always remember my father’s words: When I’m poor, I must try to overcome my circumstances. When I have enough food, I should remember those less fortunate than myself,' Hoc says.
'Now I’m not rich, but I can afford enough food for my family, so I have time to devote to others.'
Hoc used up money, time, and effort to invent the H199 software, but he’s not concerned with keeping it to himself.
'I didn’t even think about a copyright. After H199 was completed, I received many opinions from colleagues and I hope other doctors contribute to make it more perfect. 'H199 doesn’t belong to me. I created it with the purpose of helping the public. Anyone can download the software free from my website www.nguyenphuchoc.com.'
Hoc’s colleague, Dr Mai Huu Phuoc, remarked that H199 was an immensely helpful tool and should be widely popularised.
'I congratulate Hoc for his success. H199 plays an important role in limiting regretful results and lost opportunities. Hoc should upgrade the software.'
Hoc said that many overseas Vietnamese are aware of H199 as well as foreigners, so that the number of people who download H199 is becoming larger and larger.
'I will study to translate the software into English with the aim of making it more popular.'
Dr Hoc was awarded a prize by Da Nang provincial People’s Committee for his creation, but for him, the most meaningful prize is H199’s role in the lives of every patient his creation has touched.
 

Competition for third-generation (3G) technology licences is heating up among Vietnam’s largest mobile providers.
Licences to use 3G technology are being sought by Mobifone, Viettel and Vinaphone, who control 90 per cent of the local market.
Chungming An, vice president for South East Asia and China for the CDMA development group, and Hoang Ngoc Diep, the company’s adviser for competitions and forums, talked more about 3G, and the role of mobiles for 3G.
As CDMA operators are pushing to expand their networks and the Ministry of Commerce is establishing 3G licensing, can you tell us what 3G means to a developing country like Viet Nam?
Chungming An: I believe 3G is the next step for efficient communications in the world community. In the past, 2G provided basic voice and SMS, but it is not adequate for more advanced features. With mobile broadband data, 3G can support many forms of good quality communications. This can not only increase revenues, but also offer more efficient communications for business, education, health-care, security and entertainment. This will certainly help Viet Nam frog-leap other economies, at least in communications.
Hoang Ngoc Diep: Due to the conditions of Viet Nam, we have struggled to bring voice and broadband data to the publics by using traditional 'wired' technologies. It would take too long and cost so much to run cables to each individual home, even in large cities, not to mention less advanced provinces where 65 per cent of the population lives. With 3G, we can even deliver quality voice and broadband data. Broadband data on 3G will not only allow people to access basic internet and e-mail services, but many much needed high quality services. This is one of the most suitable solutions for Viet Nam Information and Communications Technology. So, 3G for developed countries offers extra features on top of the existing 2G, but for developing countries, it provides even more value.
Some telecom strategists say mobile applications are important innovations for Viet Nam. What do you think?
Chungming An: Although 3G voice capability is much better than 2G voice, it is clear that mobile broadband data is the key difference, and certainly the contents. The applications running on this broadband data are most important. All successful applications must be related to people’s daily life - very useful, very practical and convenient. If there are top quality applications that are not convenient I will not use them. Needs vary. People living in the US are different from those in Viet Nam, China and Indonesia. Therefore, Local Mobile Application is the right approach by the Vietnamese Government and local experts.
Hoang Ngoc Diep: Mobile broadband is like a highway with many useful and attractive places along it, or mobile applications. Once these places have been set up, people will use the highway to visit places. So, I applaud the Vietnamese Government for encouraging locally developed mobile applications. This is the best way to ensure 3G is successful.
What we should concentrate on when developing mobile applications?
Hoang Ngoc Diep: Mobile applications that young and inexperienced application developers must pay attention to include making sure the application is as small as possible so it can be partly down-loaded into various handsets. The application must also be as simple as possible to reduce the amount of data to be transported online. The Graphic User Interface (GUI) must utilise the small screen to its best and, most importantly, not use up much energy. It does not matter how good an application is, if it is too big to download, too confusing on the screen, and battery quickly runs out, then it is no good.
 

Dell has announced that local company Digiworld Corp will be its distributor in Viet Nam for its personal computer systems.
The announcement on Tuesday also marked the arrival of its systems that target individual customers and small businesses.
Dell also introduced its powerful laptop XPS M 1330 and the fashionable Inspiron laptops and slim-built desktops. Digiworld has more than 800 agents nationwide.
 

Global Cybersoft, the US-based software out-sourcing corporation, yesterday opened two new offices in Quang Trung Software City and at HCM City National University’s Information Technology Park.
The locations, at the country’s largest software city and one of the most prestigious high-tech universities, will enable the company to have a highly qualified staff and excellent access to quality high-tech.
The company will be able to make use of the university’s research and development activities for its products in software outsourcing services.
Services are offered for different domains, such as factory automation for semiconductors, information communication technology, embedded systems for mobile devices, automobiles and industrial applications.
 

S-Fone on July 1 announced it has had 5 million accumulated subscribers after five years of operation.
In the first half of this year, S-Fone has added 1.5 million more subscribers, registering a growth rate of 42.9% compared to late last year.
In order to fulfil its target of 6 million subscribers by the end of this year, S-Fone announced it will invest US $100 million to increase coverage and launched new CDMA-based valued added services.
S-Fone is preparing to install 700 Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) to expand coverage to all districts across the country. S-Fone is also implementing the plan for upgrading EVDO in 5 existing provinces/cities and expanding EVDO services, especially Mobile Internet, to Nha Trang, Vung Tau, Phan Thiet, etc., to serve tourists.
From July 1 to the end of September 30, 2008, S-Fone implements a promotional program applied for all postpaid subscribers activated before July 1, 2007. Accordingly, postpaid subscribers who have used S-Fone’s services for more than 3 years and 1-3 years will be offered VND 50,000 and VND 30,000 of call and service charge per month in 3 consecutive months, respectively.
 

IBM announced on June 11 the latest additions and upgrades to its mid-market solutions, including Express Advantage offerings, designed to help mid-sized businesses to minimise business risks and maximise business efficiency.
The revamped IBM Express Advantage combines a comprehensive portfolio of technology offerings, business solutions and financing options with a network of local IBM business partners and dedicated customer support service to streamline operations for customers.
Two additions to the Express Advantage portfolio address the growing need for mid-market business continuity solutions-security-rich offside data backup and recovery services and an email continuity and archiving service.
Also available as of June 14 are a suite of recently announced internet threat mitigation services and new POWER6 TM servers to increase choices of applications and reduce energy and administration costs. These include managed end-to-end solutions for retail, security, resource management for businesses and administration costs saving.
 

A week-long training workshop for European and Vietnamese software companies on free and open source software ended yesterday in Ha Noi.
The event was organised by InWEnt – Capacity Building International of Germany, INRIA of France and the Institute of Information and Technology of Viet Nam.
The workshop is also focusing on providing technology training to Vietnamese software firms.
Yahoo! authorises four Vietnamese resellers
Yahoo! Southeast Asia announced on June 11 it has selected four Vietnamese information technology companies to become its authorised resellers.
The resellers will promote and sell various forms of Yahoo! online advertising to companies and brands in Vietnam.
The selected Vietnamese resellers include Admax Network Holdings Limited, FPT Advertising Services (FPT ADS), GAPIT, and Golden Communications Group.
Yahoo!’s move is seen as a pivotal step in “Vietnamising” its services for millions of Vietnamese users to make Yahoo! the favoured launch pad for local web surfers.
According to Director General of Yahoo! Southeast Asia in Vietnam, Vu Minh Tri, Yahoo! has a strategy to utilise its global expertise to promote the internet as a means to bring economic opportunities to its partners and encourage the use of the internet to develop businesses.
 

Viettel announced that it has launched a major sales promotion campaign targeting businesses using its leased line service.
The military run telecoms provider said it would waive installation fees and user fees for a month for new leased line subscribers.
Viettel said the total package would save subscribers VND60 million (US$3,680). In addition, the firm said it would give new subscribers a free web domain, ten e-mail addresses and a hosting service for one year.