No obstacle for journos to get info from critical information infrastructures: Mustafa Jabbar
Journalists would not have to face any obstacle to get information from the 29 government agencies and institutions that have been listed by the government as Critical Information Infrastructure (CII), said Mustafa Jabbar, minister of posts and telecommunications.
He made the remark at a day-long youth workshop and discussion programme organised by BTRC in collaboration with the Cyber Crime Awareness Foundation to create awareness about cyber security.
The ICT Division declared these organisations including the Prime Minister's Office, central and state-owned banks, and the national identity and immigration departments as critical information infrastructures under the Digital Security Act for the safety of sensitive data under which any illegal access to computers, digital devices or networks is a punishable offence.
The move has generated uproar among the media and civil society members as they consider it as an obstacle to deliver accurate and impartial information to the people.
Mustafa Jabbar said the issue of cyber security is very new in the context of Bangladesh and there is a lack of awareness among the people about it. He advised parents to follow parental guidelines to keep children and teenagers safe in the online platforms.
Brigadier General Md Nasim Parvej, director general of BTRC (systems and services) said at the event that 645 websites/domains and 8,228 Facebook links have been removed this year as part of cyber security.
These websites and links have been removed following the request of the victims and the law enforcement agencies, he said.
"We have removed about 100% of the websites and Facebook links that have been requested to be removed in last year and this year," said the director general of BTRC.
Professor Dr Touhid Bhuiyan, head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Daffodil International University, said, "Many big institutions of the country keep the incident of cyber-attack secret for fear of tarnishing their reputation. As a result they cannot take an effective role in identifying and solving the problems."
