Information security landscape in vietnam: Insights from two research surveys

The increasingly reliance on technology poses the greater threats to firms’ information security. From sensitive internal information, such as financial data or product information, to external data collecting through interaction and transactions with external stakeholders, all are under the threats of being stolen. Building an information defence system is, therefore, vital and is not only simply involving the application of technology, but also requires the effort of both managerial and employees level. In this chapter, we shed light on the current information defence system of Vietnamese SMEs, from budget to planning, and from managerial level to employees level. This study compiles results from multi-stage surveys and interviews. The two quantitative surveys were conducted to understand information security in Vietnamese SMEs from managerial perspectives and from employees perspectives respectively. A follow-up series of in-depth interviews with experts and end-users was carried out to elaborate on the quantitative’s findings. Results indicate that Vietnamese SMEs deal with many types of sensitive data and managers are aware of its sensitivity. However, investment in information defence system is low and training does not occur frequently. The human aspects of information security is overlooked. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018.