Government institutions and private banks have taken various precautionary measures after the threat of an “attack storm” in the country’s cyber world and the incident of information leakage.
Some have sought help from the government’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) department. Some have formed cyber security teams.
So far three organizations are known to have formed Cyber Security Teams or Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs). The institutions are Election Commission, Ganabhavan, and Titus Gas Transmission and Distribution Company.
General Manager of Titus ICT Branch. Tariq Anis Khan that they formed the certificate and informed the ICT department. Besides, they also told them what kind of help they need.
BGD e-Gov Cert, a project of the ICT department dealing with cyber security, issued a warning on August 3 warning about the threat of cyber attacks in the country. It is said that on August 15, there was a threat of a cyber attack in Bangladesh. Threatened hacker groups calling themselves ‘hacktivists’ have announced targets for attacks on Bangladesh and Pakistan. Those threats claim to be an Indian hacker group.
However, sources in the ICT department said that even if there is talk of launching a storm of attacks, it may happen that they will not attack at all. Again, it may be that they will make a big attack. So the organizations in Bangladesh have to be careful.
The ICT department held a meeting on 29 critical information
infrastructures on August 9 following the threat of cyber attacks and the leak of people’s personal information from the website of the Registrar General’s Office, Births and Deaths Registration Authority. The meeting advised organizations to conduct IT (Information Technology) vulnerability audits.
In the meeting, it was said on behalf of the institutions that they do not have skilled manpower in information technology. They seek help from the ICT department in this regard. Sources say the ICT department says it is difficult to audit IT vulnerabilities in all cases. They asked the institutions to audit and send reports to private institutions.
However, ICT department sources also say that if an IT audit is conducted by a private organization, the capability of the auditing organization and national security issues must be verified.
Bangladesh Bank issued 11-point instructions to all banks and financial institutions of the country on August 10 after warning of cyber attacks.
Digital Security Agency director general Abu Saeed said about the warning. Kamruzzaman told Prothom Alo that everyone has been warned and asked to be safe.
Meanwhile, many websites in the country have been attacked by DIDs (Distributed Denial of Service) after the threat of cyber attacks. This type of attack keeps the website busy so that no one can access it. For quite some time, some hacker groups named Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan have been threatening and attacking each other. Since last night, the hackers of these three countries have been trying to attack each other.
In a blog published on the website of Group-IB, a Singapore-based organization working on cyber security, the name of a group called
‘Mysterious Team Bangladesh’ has been mentioned cyber attack
It says the group was created in 2020. They came into the limelight around 2022 after cyber attacks in several countries. They target organizations such as governments, financial institutions, and the transport sector.
The article also says that Mysterious Team Bangladesh has conducted more than 750 deed attacks since June 2022. In addition, 78 websites were defaced.
When asked about the mysterious team Bangladesh that these things can be done using the name of Bangladesh. Such hackers do not work on behalf of any country. They do this to show their ‘achievement’.
That after the warning, apart from important information infrastructure, other government institutions have also sought various suggestions from SERT. Many are also approaching them for iT vulnerability testing.
The government institutions of the country did not give much importance to cyber security. Last July 9, ICT State Minister Junaid Ahmed said in reference to the security weakness of government agencies, the organizations declared as important information infrastructure was contacted and e-mailed. Unfortunately, some do not respond. Does not follow instructions.
BGD e-Gov Cert’s ‘Bangladesh Cyber Threat Landscape Report-2022’ states that 91.6 percent of cyber attacks or attempted attacks in the country are due to poor infrastructure.
Information technology expert Suman Ahmed that hacker groups are active in almost all countries. They spread excitement at times. Don’t panic about them. Again there is no opportunity to neglect them. He said the risk of cyber attacks is always there. In these cases, there is no alternative to improve your skills and be careful.
The threat of cyber attack in the country, warning issued
A group of hackers has threatened to attack the cyber world of Bangladesh. They mentioned August 15 as the date of a possible attack. In view of the threat, a cyber security alert has been issued by the Government’s Computer Incident Response Team (BGD e-Gov Cert).
BGD E-Gov Cert said these things in a press release on Friday. The warning signed by Mohammad Saiful Alam Khan, Director of BGD E-Gov Cert Project, said that on July 31, a hacker group said that on August 15, there will be a storm of cyber attacks in the cyber world of Bangladesh.