Vague regulations are hindering the use of personal digital signatures in Việt Nam despite rapidly growing demand, an official said on Thursday.— Photo qdnd.vn

HÀ NỘI — Vague regulations are hindering the use of personal digital signatures in Việt Nam despite rapidly growing demand, an official said on Thursday.

Speaking at a conference on policies for digital signature on mobile devices, the National Electronic Authentication Centre (NEAC) director Lã Hoàng Trung said Việt Nam is a country with a young population where more than 70 per cent of people use mobile devices in big cities.

With everything online now, the demand for valid digital signatures in Việt Nam was huge, he said.

Trung, however, said that accounts authenticated by the NEAC to have valid digital signatures were disproportionate from businesses, with individuals accounting for less than 5 per cent.

“The main reason is there are few to none services accepting personal digital signatures while the authentication process is not available on mobile devices,” he added.

“The demand is there, the technological solutions are also ready. What Việt Nam lacks is detailed regulations.”

Information and Communications deputy minister Nguyễn Thành Hưng said the Government was determined to accelerate the use of information technology in agencies, businesses and all of society.

That will be impossible without the “prerequisite” condition of information security of applications, he said, adding that a mechanism to confirm the safety of an online service for both providers and customers - through digital signatures for example – was very important and necessary.

Hưng said that the Ministry of Information and Communications is drafting and will soon release or submit to higher level policies and regulations on the use of digital signatures on mobile devices. — VNS