Cybersecurity is not merely technical but a strategic priority for national security: Public Administration Adviser

Today a two-day seminar titled ‘Cybersecurity and Data Protection’ was held at Hotel Pan Pacific Sonargaon in the capital, organized by the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Division. He made these remarks while speaking as session chair at the panel session titled ‘Cyber Resilience for Bangladesh: Priorities and Actions’ of the seminar, held under the theme ‘Cybersecurity for Resilient Digital Government’. The Adviser said that the current government, led by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and with a public mandate and more than a two-thirds majority, is committed to building an inclusive, transparent, accountable and citizen-centric digital governance system.

Highlighting the country's growing digital dependence, he said that at present nearly 138 million people in Bangladesh use the internet and 122 million people use mobile phones. The country is moving toward generating electricity through nuclear technology, expanding digital financial services, and establishing a cashless society; however, along with this progress, cybersecurity risks are also increasing. He said that the past incident of reserve theft from Bangladesh Bank pointed directly to our cybersecurity weaknesses. Recently, a report by cybersecurity expert Olivier Nokes highlighted the risks of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure such as hospital blood banks, food warehouses, and power plants. At the same time, immediate steps as well as long-term plans must be taken to protect citizens' National Identity (NID) information and prevent phishing, hacking, and financial fraud.

Emphasizing the development of domestic technology and information security, the Public Administration Adviser said that many digital products from the Western world create opportunities to collect and surveil users' information. If important state and personal information remains exposed on foreign platforms, it can create risks for national security. For this reason, emphasis must be placed on building technology-based platforms of our own to conduct important government meetings and activities. In particular, initiatives are needed to organize meetings of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) on a domestic online platform instead of the foreign Zoom platform. At the same time, the security and functionality of software used in the country will be properly verified.

Calling for increasing the capacity of law enforcement agencies to suppress cybercrime, he said that the police and relevant agencies will be further strengthened through modern digital forensic technology, specialized investigative skills, and international cooperation. However, surveillance technology must not be used in any way as a tool of repression against the people; the use of such technology must remain fully under the government's control and accountability. Regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and employment, he said that although AI creates new possibilities, it must be considered how much its application is needed in every sector of the country; because a huge number of young people in Bangladesh are still struggling to make a living. To implement BNP's election manifesto goal of creating employment for five hundred thousand young people in the next five years, a balance must be maintained between the use of technology and employment.

He called upon the public and private sectors, academics, the telecommunications sector, law enforcement agencies, and international partners to work together to build a safe, inclusive, and reliable digital system. The seminar was organized under the project ‘E-ffective Governance: Accelerating e-government and digital public services in Bangladesh’, implemented with funding from the European Union. In the seminar's panel discussion, Secretary of the Information and Communication Technology Division Md. Mamunur Rashid Bhuiyan served as moderator. The discussion was participated in by Secretary of the Posts and Telecommunications Division Dr. Mohammad Kamruzzaman, Head of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Bangladesh Police and Additional Inspector General of Police Barrister Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain, Chairman of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Dhaka Professor Md. Abdur Razzaq, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Brainstation-23 Raisul Kabir. Domestic and foreign cybersecurity experts, policymakers, senior government officials, and officials associated with critical information infrastructure participated in it.