Cyber attacks increasing

This email is in reference to an article titled 'Cyber attacks continue to rise in Bangladesh' that was published in the Financial Express on February 06, 2019. The piece informed readers how the incidents of cyber attacks are continuously increasing in different commercial and service-providing outlets of the country despite preventive measures in place.

When the notion of 'cyber attack' comes to mind, we often recall the incident of the Bangladesh Bank heist of 2016 when hackers managed to swindle $ 81 million and transferred it to Philippines. Following the $ 81 million heist, the government formed the 'cyber incident response team' (CIRT).

According to state-run Bangladesh e-Government Computer Incident Response Team (BGD e-Gov CIRT) under the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, there have been 870 incidents only in 2018, up from 683 in 2017 and 379 in 2016.

Of the attacks, vulnerability accounts for 63.2 per cent, intrusion or hackings 5.7 per cent, malicious code 22.5 per cent, abusive content 4.5 and the rest comprise fraudulence, intrusion attempts, service request, information security and others.

The article mentioned that the local banks of the country have already invested Tk 20 billion in cyber security measures. These efforts are commendable. But they also need to have dedicated teams of cyber security professionals who will have the task of looking after the cyber security issues. These teams would need to be aware of latest trends and techniques being put to use by hackers and how cyber security professionals across the world are thwarting them. Such teams would need the support of their organisation's management to gain such know-how.

Bangladesh's momentum in economic growth and development is continuing. This remarkable growth rate is also attracting hackers from across the world. There is no way this can be stopped. Constantly updated preventive cyber security measures in government departments, apex trade bodies, private firms, banks and other organisations will be extremely necessary from here on.

Akibul Javed,

Indira Road, Dhaka