Citizen data leak: NID wing suspends access for suspected govt, pvt partner organisations

The national identity registration wing of the Election Commission has suspended data access to a number of its government and private partner organisations over suspicions of leaking citizens' data online, while putting all of its 174 service recipient organisations under watch.

The wing's Director General AKM Humayun Kabir informed reporters of the suspension of data-sharing on Thursday, but declined to specify how many organisations have been hit with the move. 

A committee comprising two system managers of the wing is investigating the matter, as it emerged that data of a number of smart NID card holders are available on a Telegram channel.

However, no deadline has been fixed for submitting the probe report over the social media leak. The details of the leaking incident would be disclosed before reporters, once the report is submitted, said Humayun Kabir.

He claimed that the Election Commission has no direct role behind the leak, and that its network was not hacked as the constitutional body is technologically very strong.

Still, in the age of internet, everything is possible and many organisations have been receiving citizens' data from the Election Commission for many years. Those orchestrating the leak likely gathered data from different partner organisations of the commission, Humayun Kabir said.

Different partner organisations have access to different types of data. For example, banks can get names, father's names and addresses of a national identification card holder from the concerned wing of the election commission. Similarly, police have access to ten types of citizens' data. 

Due to agreements in place, the election commission cannot completely stop providing services to its suspected partners, Humayun Kabir noted. 

If any organisation is implicated in the probe report, the commission would not impose fines on it, as it would be a futile act, he hinted. The constitutional body would simply hand over the alleged people to the law, he said.

If a software company overseeing citizens' data is found guilty, the election authority would recommend blacklisting it and banning its activities in the country. 

The national identity registration server has identification data of about 12 crore citizens of Bangladesh, and about 5.5 crore of these have smart identity cards.