Foreign dependency for cyber security “risky”, says Palak

Bangladesh will develop own tools for ensuring cyber security at the sensitive public entities, State Minister for Posts, Telecommunication and Information Technology Junaid Ahmed Palak said on Tuesday as he sees foreign dependency "risky". 

"As no country wants to hire foreign military force for its defence system, Bangladesh will not use any hired technology for tis cyber security," he said while addressing a cyber-security summit in Dhaka. 

"The foreign dependency to ensure security in banking, telecom and power sectors can prove to be risky. That's why we're working on to create own tools and a pool of homegrown experts," he added.  

However, the state minister did not rule out international coordination, citing the 2016 cyber attack on the Bangladesh Bank, in which the foreign hackers stole money from its overseas bank account and diverted the money to another country. 

Bangladesh already has agreements with India, America, Japan and Korea to reciprocally share any kind of cyber security threats. Besides, it secured membership of some international organisations to this end, he informed. 

"Ensuring cyber security is one of the most important issues in the world right now," he said. 

Protection of data has been at the centre stage now with an alarming rise in the number of cyber attacks to steal data in recent times as information is considered valuable alongside money across the world, elaborated Palak.  

"None in the world can say that their cyber security is 100% safe. But we have come a long way in enhancing capacity, efficiency and awareness," he noted. 

He highlighted that they have given guidelines to every critical information infrastructure institutions and are training them on what technical capabilities they need apart from cooperating for technical development.  

Palak emphasised four issues of cyber security: raising awareness at the citizen level, technology development, strict enforcement of laws and international coordination. 

Md Abul Kalam Azad, member of the parliament, Hussain A Samad, World Bank consultant, Habibullah N Karim, founder CEO of Techno Haven Company Ltd, and Md Mushfiqur Rahman, advisor of Cyber Crime Awareness Foundation, among others, were also present at the event.