Online payment portal opens for 10 websites

HA NOI — The Viet Nam Financial Switching JSC (Banknetvn) has officially launched an online payment portal known as Bn_debit.

Via the Bn_debit website, shoppers can now purchase products online with the amount payable to be automatically deducted from consumer accounts. Only the Sai Gon Bank for Industry and Trade (Saigonbank) and the Asia Commercial Bank (NamABank) have thus far utilised the online payment gateway.

Best in-zone tariff of 3 cents a minute

HA NOI — Vietnamobile has launched a new "Northern Sim" starter kit aimed at customers in the north of the country.

Subscribers will only have to pay VND680 (US3 cents) a minute for in-zone calls, on-net or off-net, the best tariff to have ever hit the market.

As part of the program, for VND25,000, ($1.22) customers will receive VND50,000 accompanying and a gift related to their first 10 top-ups within the first six months of activation.

GT5 contest aimed at younger customers

HCM CITY — Mercedes-Benz Viet Nam is organising its first Mercedes GT5 Contest, simulating races in its legendary SLS AMG sports car.

Competitors could find themselves in the real handcrafted-cockpit of a sport car, competing with each other in the 3D GranTurismo 5 (GT5) video game based on the Sony PlayStation 3 platform. Joining the Mercedes GT5 Contest during September 1-24 in HCM City, or October 1- 16 in Ha Noi, the 16 players with the best records will advance to the finals, to be held in HCM City on September 24 and Ha Noi on October 16.

Symantec protects against cyber attacks

HA NOI — Symantec Corp recently announced the availability of Symantec Endpoint Protection 12 for Vietnamese enterprises, built to protect networks from cyber attacks.

Symantec, based in the US, highlighted current security trends alongside leading features of Symantec Endpoint Protection 12 related to safeguarding critical business information, especially in medium- and small-sized enterprises.

According to Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report, attackers unleashed more than 286 million malicious programmes in 2010, creating a challenge for traditional signature-based security solutions struggling to keep up with the volume of attacks.

HCM City sets up website for stamp collectors

HCM CITY — HCM City has set up a licensing website for stamp collectors.

The Vietstamp.net website features information related to the activities of stamp collectors at home and abroad, stamps from Viet Nam and around the world as well as knowledge on philately to introduce and promote the image of Viet Nam and its people to the world through postage stamps. — VNS