The three individuals, Duong Hong Le, Le Minh Trung, and Hua Van Tuan, were fined for stealing personal information on clients where the three worked, according to a report by VietNamNet Bridge.
These individuals had worked at securities and real estate trading firms and took the personal information on clients when they left their companies. The three then exchanged the information they had collected and posted it online for sale, according to the report.
They were able to earn tens of thousands of dollars from selling the information to Vietnamese insurance, financial, and advertising firms, noted to the report.
Vietnamese authorities have undertaken an effort to crack down on cybercrime. The government is developing a legal framework to enable prosecution of individuals and groups who commit cybercrimes.
The Ministry of Information and Communications is implementing a 10-year plan to bolster the country’s defenses against cybercrime and cyberattacks. Around 60 million computers in Vietnam were infected by malware in 2010.