On June 3, at Fortinet Accelerate 2025 in Hanoi, Fortinet announced the results of a new survey on cybersecurity in Vietnam, a key market for the global security firm.

Conducted by IDC on Fortinet’s behalf, the survey gathered insights from representatives of organizations with over 250 employees directly involved in cybersecurity strategy and investment decisions.

The survey found a significant increase in both the scale and sophistication of cyber threats in Vietnam and the Asia-Pacific region. Fortinet experts noted that cyber risks are no longer temporary crises but constant threat. Organizations in Vietnam are increasingly vulnerable to stealthy, anonymous attacks.

Traditional threats such as phishing and malware continue to grow by about 10 percent annually, a relatively modest rate possibly due to improved endpoint protection and awareness training. 

Meanwhile, the fastest-growing threats include ransomware (32 percent), cloud vulnerabilities (28 percent), IoT/OT system attacks (24 percent), supply chain attacks (22 percent), and unpatched or zero-day vulnerabilities (20 percent).

These threats, according to Fortinet experts, are escalating rapidly by exploiting gaps in governance, visibility, and system complexity, making them harder to detect and more damaging when successful.

The consequences of cyber threats extend beyond operational downtime, leading to data theft, privacy breaches, loss of customer trust, and regulatory penalties.

“Financial damage is significant. Forty-four percent of respondents reported data breaches causing financial losses, with one in four incidents costing over $500,000,” a Fortinet expert shared.

AI makes cybercriminals stealthier and faster

The survey highlighted that attackers are leveraging AI to conduct silent attacks at unprecedented speeds, challenging security teams’ ability to detect and respond promptly.

The cyber threat landscape is growing increasingly complex, exploiting weaknesses in visibility, governance, and infrastructure, posing significant challenges for overburdened cybersecurity teams. Most organizations have recognized that AI has become a tool in cybercriminals’ arsenals.

At a press conference on the sidelines of the event, Rashish Pandey, Vice President of Marketing & Communications for Fortinet Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, said that cybercriminals using AI is no longer theoretical, with nearly 52 percent of organizations in Vietnam reporting AI-supported cyber threats in the past year. These threats are expanding rapidly, with 54 percent of organizations noting a twofold increase and 36 percent reporting a threefold increase in incidents.

In Vietnam, he noted that common AI-supported cyber threats include brute force attack, using stolen credentials to attempt logins multiple systems, deploying deepfake technology in business email compromise scams, and automatically carry out attack surface reconnaissance.

Despite the rise in AI-driven attacks, only 8 percent of surveyed organizations are confident in their current defenses. Meanwhile, 30 percent admit that AI-driven threats exceed their detection capabilities, and 33 percent lack the ability to monitor these attack types.

Van Anh