1. Vietnam Internet Association, a bridge for the internet business community
Vietnam Internet Association (VIA) is a non profit socio professional organization established in 2010. To date, VIA has gathered more than 160 members, including telecommunications carriers, internet service providers, technology and digital content companies, and hardware and software providers in Vietnam. Acting as a bridge among three parties, government, businesses, and society, VIA has become a common home where Vietnam’s internet business community connects, shares, and grows together.
VIA aligns its development direction with national digital transformation goals, proactively advising on and giving feedback on policy while accompanying ministries and agencies toward the goals of a digital economy, digital society, and digital nation. The Association also focuses on developing its ecosystem and high quality human resources, connecting experts and young tech talent as a core force for innovation, while promoting substantive international cooperation to help Vietnamese internet businesses participate more deeply in regional and global value chains.
VIA plays an important role in connecting, supporting, and accompanying businesses on the path of innovation and comprehensive digital transformation.
Mr. Vu Hoang Lien, Chairman of the Vietnam Internet Association, term IV (2025 to 2030)
2. VNETWORK and its mission to protect Vietnamese businesses
Founded in 2013, VNETWORK owns a comprehensive ecosystem of IT infrastructure, data transmission, and cybersecurity. The company asserts its strength through more than 2,300 points of presence across 146 countries, along with a team of experts operating security operations centers (SOC) around the clock in Singapore, the United Kingdom, Taiwan (China), and Vietnam.
Throughout its development journey, we pursue the mission that “every Vietnamese business has the right to be protected, regardless of size or financial capacity.” This aspiration is the strongest driving force behind the decision to launch WAF, a free web application firewall, so that even the smallest businesses with the fewest resources do not have to trade off between cost and safety on their digital transformation journey.
The solution inherits VNETWORK’s core technology platform and years of real world experience protecting infrastructure for thousands of businesses in Vietnam. What sets WAF Free apart is its deep integration of artificial intelligence throughout the system, from architecture design and training with real world data to the ability to detect abnormal behavior and forecast attack trends.
WAF Free is positioned as an intuitive, fast starting point for businesses that have never deployed any security layer, helping them establish a basic defense layer immediately at zero cost.
Ms. Phan Thi My Hau, Co-Founder and CEO of VNETWORK
3. The state of cybersecurity and legal pressure facing Vietnamese businesses
WAF Free was born from a worrying reality in today’s cyberspace. According to VNETWORK’s monitoring system, in 2025 alone Vietnam suffered more than 2.3 million cyberattacks of various scales, equivalent to an average of 4.5 attacks per minute.
Hackers typically target the web application layer directly through common exploitation methods such as SQL Injection, Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. This is precisely the most vulnerable area for businesses, where all customer data is stored and most online services operate.
Beyond the risk of operational disruption, businesses also face strict legal sanctions. Under Decree 85/2016/ND-CP (Clause 2, Article 8) and Circular 12/2022/TT-BTTTT, information systems classified at level 2 under regulation, or level 3 and above, are required to deploy a web application firewall (WAF). In addition, the Personal Data Protection Law, effective from 2026, also requires every data processing entity to apply technical solutions that prevent data leaks.
Even so, the gap between legal requirements and actual implementation remains wide due to cost barriers. A survey by VNETWORK shows that financial and personnel constraints are the top reasons why 42.1% of businesses, mostly SMEs, remain on the sidelines of cybersecurity.
This is precisely the context that drove the collaboration between VNETWORK and VIA in the WAF Free sponsorship program.
4. Why WAF Free fits the needs of SMEs
The first advantage of WAF Free is its minimal deployment effort. It takes businesses only about 2 minutes and 3 basic setup steps to activate protection for their website. Once activated, WAF Free works as an intelligent filter, speeding up website delivery while proactively classifying and blocking malicious traffic, keeping the website stable even under DDoS attacks.
The solution also protects customer data and website source code against common vulnerability exploits listed in the OWASP Top 10. The system also comes with a built in rate limiting mechanism that helps stop account scanning and silent brute force password attacks from hackers.
An intuitive reporting system through a real time traffic monitoring dashboard helps administrators stay fully aware of their website’s security status without needing deep IT analysis skills.
5. VNETWORK accompanies VIA members toward safe digital transformation
As a member of the Vietnam Internet Association, VNETWORK provides a solid layer of protection for members from the very first steps of their digital transformation journey. WAF Free acts as a digital shield that helps businesses build a proactive security mindset instead of waiting to react until an incident occurs. Once cost and resource barriers are removed, businesses can focus on their growth goals without worrying about hidden security vulnerabilities behind their website. This is precisely the long term commitment VNETWORK makes to VIA members, aimed at a safe and sustainable internet environment for Vietnam’s digital economy.
VNETWORK believes that investing in cybersecurity early is the foundation for the sustainable growth of every business as well as of Vietnam’s digital ecosystem as a whole. Accompanying VIA is proof of that direction, as VNETWORK not only provides technology but also shares responsibility in building a safe and strong digital business community.
Today, VIA members can register to activate WAF Free right on VNETWORK’s website to protect their systems.