Numbers blocked to prevent spam
The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) blocked nearly a million numbers sending spam text messages in the first six months of the year in its latest attempt to fight the growing wave of mobile spam.
The ministry ordered the blocking of 964,432 mobile numbers across the nation. Service was temporarily cut off for 361 of the numbers.
The figure was released at a meeting held 17 on July in Hanoi on the ministry's communication work in the first half of the year.
Text messaging is an easy way to get ads to the public, considering the low cost of messaging – generally VND300 (about US$1.4 cents) per text – and the high efficiency of the method, according to MIC.
In addition to that, the registration procedures for pay-first mobile users and the confirmation process for the registered information, which could help control spamming, still aren't taken seriously.
One of MIC's key tasks for the last six months of the year is developing measures to solve the spamming problem. The ministry also said it would aim to finalise projects and legislation, including the draft Law on Information Safety and the amended Law on Press. Its communications work would also focus on national sovereignty over territories and waters, as well as preparing for cyber attacks from overseas.
The latest massive cyber attack on Vietnam was in May. A Chinese group codenamed APT 30 is suspected to have stolen sensitive information from many Asian countries for at least a decade without being discovered.