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‘Technical glitch behind citizens’ data leak’

  • Staff Correspondent
  • 25 July, 2023 12:00 AM
  • Print news
‘Technical glitch behind citizens’ data leak’

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State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak has claimed that the data on the country’s citizens have been leaked from the birth registration portal due to ‘technical glitch and lack of human resources’.

He made the claim while unveiling the report of the probe body formed to look into the citizens’ data breach at the ICT Tower in capital’s Agargaon area on Monday.

“We’ll forward the investigation report to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,” Palak said.

The probe came after the leakage of data on around 50 million citizens from the Office of the Registrar General, Birth and Death Registration.

Citing the investigation report, the state minister mentioned two major factors -- technical glitch of the web applications and lack of skilled workforce at the department -- for the breaching of private data.

US-based website TechCrunch reported that a website of Bangladesh government leaked the personal data of ‘millions’ of citizens.

Viktor Markopoulos, a researcher for Bitcrack Cyber Security, told TechCrunch that he accidentally discovered the leak on June 27 and informed the e-Government Computer Incident Response Team of Bangladesh of it.

Palak blamed the birth and death registration website for the leakage of millions of citizens' personal information. “It has been noted that no log file was stored in the application system of the office concerned,” he said, citing the investigation of the ICT Division.

He said the government will not take action against anyone as the probe report did not identify any digital forensic regarding the issue. “It (report) only suggests a vulnerability assessment and penetration testing over the web application of birth registration portal,” he said. The probe report only incorporated suggestions for improving cybersecurity; rather than tracing the people behind the act.