Hacking cell phones and social media profiles rampantly sparks alarm

In recent times occurrences like hacking people's android cell phones and social media profiles have abruptly mounted. This phenomenon has scared ordinary people because no significant steps are in view as of yet to crack down on cyber culprits. Hackers are always prowling on social networking sites and looking for chances to penetrate smart phones and Facebook accounts belonging to gullible netizens. Even sometimes celebrities and eminent individuals also fall victims to these cyber crimes.

It was revealed by researchers at a recent conference organized by Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) located in the capital's Mirpur Sector 2 that several banks in Bangladesh have been taking services from outsourcing companies for looking after their information and communication technology (ICT) departments. It's alarming when banks hand over their ICT wings to outsiders. It's also a vivid exposure of weak human resources with very limited knowledge and poor capacity to ensure cyber safety in all sectors.

The immediate past regime viciously authorized certain spy agencies to carry out bugging mobile phone conversations of political leaders, businessmen, government officials as well as average people which is how hacking cell phones was legitimized by the ousted ruling party. Hackers stole 81 million US dollars from Bangladesh Bank in 2016 but even after such a huge cyber attack, no strong move was made to consolidate and to fortify the ICT departments of government offices or private organizations.

Former Secretary Syed Marghub Murshed valued people's privacy and attached substantial importance to freedom of expression while he was the first Chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) from 2002 to 2005. Syed Marghub Murshed straight away opposed the idea of eavesdropping mobile phone subscribers' conversations. He termed it unethical and a breach of people's basic right to speak freely in a democratic country. Syed Marghub Murshed is currently associated with The Asian Age in the capacity of the newspaper's Editor-at-Large.

The overthrown government which was unseated on 5 August 2024 violated human rights in every immoral way. Overhearing people's private talks on cell phones was one of the repressive tactics of the fallen tyrants. These unlawful things facilitate blackmailing, cyber assaults and other forms of digital felonies. It's very important to formulate and to revise legal frameworks without delay so that no governments in days to come can breach people's private lives or cannot endanger common citizens or political opponents through cyber incursions.

It's surprising that since 8 August 2024, when the interim government took oath following former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's downfall from power, several reform commissions have been launched to make necessary rectifications in Police Department, judicial service, banking and financial sectors, academia, electoral systems but nothing noteworthy has been yet done to dig deeper into the drawbacks and risk factors which challenge Bangladesh's ICT turf. It's an urgent call which needs immediate attention from the dignitaries holding high echelons in the concerned portfolios.

Md. Mahbub Hasan Shaheen, Joint Secretary in Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications said that the interim government has in the meantime taken up certain exclusive measures to strengthen the cyber security of state-run organizations as well as other key institutions like banks, law and order forces, vital ministries, the central bank, intelligence units, stock markets etcetera. 

On the other hand, Associate Professor Dr. Mohammad Faisal Uddin, Department of Computer Science and Engineering in Independent University, said that the widespread availability of android phones, tabs, laptops and other sophisticated gadgets has broadened the risk of cyber crimes everywhere including Bangladesh. Dr. Mohammad Faisal Uddin laid emphasis on making cyber security laws tougher and making punishments much more stringent for perpetrators who violate cyber rules.