Major General Le Xuan Minh, Director of the Cybersecurity and High-Tech Crime Prevention Department, speaking at the event (Photo: NCA).
On the morning of November 15, the 2025 Cybersecurity Student Competition officially entered its final round.
The competition is hosted by the National Cybersecurity Association, under the patronage of the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Education and Training. Within the framework of the event, a seminar was held on “Protecting Individuals and Organizations from Cyberattacks in the Digital Age: Proactively Identifying and Responding to Potential Risks.”
At the seminar, Dr. Huynh Thi Thanh Binh, Vice Rector of the School of Information and Communication Technology, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, shared a story about an international student she knew who had been ensnared in an incredibly sophisticated tech scam.
In the incident, scammers impersonated authorities, falsely accusing the victim of involvement in drug transactions.
They not only manipulated the victim, demanding money for investigation, but also escalated the psychological warfare to the point of coercing the victim to “undress” for photos, then used these sensitive images to blackmail the family.
Experts during the panel discussion (Photo: NCA).
The story illustrated a terrifying reality: Artificial Intelligence (AI) has officially become a weapon of psychological warfare.
These are no longer isolated scams. Mr. Ngo Tuan Anh, CEO of Vietnam Data Security Joint Stock Company, stated that in just one year, the number of AI-powered phishing attacks has increased twentyfold.
Why is AI so dangerous?
Colonel Dr. Nguyen Hong Quan, Head of the Data Security and Personal Data Protection Department, National Cybersecurity Association, revealed that deepfake technology now only needs about 30 seconds to imitate a human voice.
Concurring, Mr. Ngo Minh Hieu, Director of the Anti-Scam Organization, shared that cybercriminals no longer need to be exceptional hackers. Now, they can rent custom-designed AI tools.
“There’s an underground market where AI is tailored for criminals and sold on a monthly subscription basis, much like paid ChatGPT.
For just 200-300 dollars a month, anyone can own an AI tool that automatically translates scam scenarios, filters victims, and even creates malware like ransomware,” Mr. Hieu explained.
A Lucrative Target for Hackers
One of the fiercest fronts in the AI war is digital identity (eKYC). Vietnam currently has 27 million accounts opened through electronic identity verification. This is a “fat target” in the eyes of hackers.
Mr. Phan Trong Quan, Head of Information Security Assessment Department at VNPT Group, explained that criminals no longer use crude tricks like overlaying ID numbers or QR codes on forged documents. Now, they apply deepfake technology to copy identity parts.
The most sophisticated tactic is the “Man-in-the-Middle” attack. When users perform video verification, such as turning their face or speaking commands, hackers position themselves in the middle to intercept the transmitted data.
“They inject pre-prepared deepfake videos, replacing the user’s real data stream to bypass authentication. Banking and financial systems will ‘see’ a fake face but believe it to be real,” Mr. Quan warned.
According to Mr. Vu Duy Hien, Deputy Secretary General of the National Cybersecurity Association, students are the vanguard force on the front line of protecting national digital sovereignty (Photo: NCA).
Against attacks operating at machine speed, the only solution is to use a “shield” that also operates at machine speed. Experts assert that this is a battle with AI.
Mr. Phan Trong Quan revealed how VNPT is re-arming AI for defense. Instead of just analyzing facial images, VNPT’s system uses AI to detect abnormal behavior.
This technology relies on behavioral biometrics – analyzing subtle details that humans cannot perceive, but AI can.
AI will analyze how users hold their phones. A real user will exhibit natural shaking and movement. Simultaneously, the way a user’s fingers interact with the screen will create different thermal regions. AI will learn these habits to distinguish between real people and bots.
All this data is fed into a “machine learning module” using neural networks. If AI detects current behavior that is abnormally different from historical data, it will block the account and lock the transaction session before damage occurs.
The Weakest Link Is Human
However, even the strongest AI “shield” becomes useless if humans open the door to the enemy themselves.
Experts agree: Humans are the weakest link in any organizational defense model.
Mr. Hoang Manh Duc, Head of System Security Research Team at FPT University, believes that the “high walls and deep moats” defense model is outdated. The era of Cloud and IoT demands a new strategy: “Zero Trust.”
The philosophy of Zero Trust is that we will not trust any connection, any device, whether internal or external; all must be rigorously checked and authenticated.
But technology is only one part. Mr. Nguyen Duc Duy, Senior Solution Engineer at Huawei Vietnam, emphasized the importance of immutable backups – meaning they cannot be overwritten, deleted, or modified – combined with completely isolated partitions to ensure data can always be recovered after a Ransomware attack.
Dr. Doan Trung Son, Director of the Cybersecurity Program at Phenikaa University, pointed out that Vietnam’s problem is a lack of “cybersecurity culture.”
This culture is not purely about technological issues; it is a human issue and must be implemented from the top down, starting with the awareness of leaders.
The battle to protect Vietnam’s cyberspace is a new front in the cause of national defense. To win, Vietnam is acting on all three pillars: Technology, law, and most importantly, people.
Source link: https://dantri.com.vn/cong-nghe/ai-dang-tro-thanh-vu-khi-chien-tranh-tam-ly-cua-toi-pham-mang-20251115171410658.htm
