State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism M Mahbub Ali has denied reports that hackers are holding the email servers of Biman Bangladesh Airlines for ransom.
The national carrier did not suffer much damage from the recent cyber-attack, he said in response to questions from reporters after the launch of the memorial book “Mujib's Bangladesh” at a city hotel on Sunday.
Biman Managing Director and CEO Shafiul Azim, who was also at the press conference, echoed that they did not have any information on a ransom demand.
However, Digital Security Agency and Civil Aviation Ministry insiders furnished Dhaka Tribune with documents that suggest hackers are demanding $5 million in ransom for restoring Biman's access to its email servers.
Some sources claimed Biman may have already negotiated with the hackers.
The hackers have reportedly threatened to publish flight, passport, and other information of passengers and Biman employees on an online blog if they did not receive the ransom by Monday.
On March 17, Biman's email servers were taken over by the hackers and the national carrier's access is reportedly yet to be restored.
On March 21, a team from the digital security agency under the ICT division visited the Biman office and gave some guidelines to the Biman data server protection team to recover the server.
On March 22, people claiming to be the hackers sent a message to Biman that reads: “You say in the media that no information has been leaked. But you are wrong.”
On March 23, Biman in a press release said their email server had been infected with ransomware.
When asked about the cyber attack yesterday, State Minister Mahbub Ali said: “We do not have any evidence (that information has been leaked). Everything that needs to be done in a cyber-crime case is being done. A general diary has been lodged and all necessary measures have been taken.”
Also Read: State minister: No ransom demand made for Biman email server
When asked why Biman has been unable to recover its email servers from the hackers even after nine days, Biman MD and CEO Shafiul Azim said: “There was no disruption in the operations or operational work of Biman. Our activities are going on as usual.”
He hoped to be able to give a complete picture of the incident on Monday.
When asked if the hackers were able to launch the attack due to negligence in the security system of Biman, the Biman MD said: "If we have any deficiencies, we will bring them forward. Biman will work on how to prevent such incidents in the future.”
Digital security officials could not say when control of the server could be retained.
Cyber security experts said ransomware is a special type of malware that can take control of a computer or server. The hacker demands a huge amount of money and sets a ten-day time limit to return the data.
In this type of hacking, connivance with insiders cannot be ruled out.
The cyber attack
The hackers reportedly took control of Biman's email servers using the unique malware “Zero Day Attack.”
Along with the cyber attack on March 17, the hackers sent a message that read “Hello” and had a yellow, parallelogram-shaped logo.
The next day, the hackers demanded $5m in ransom by Monday. On March 21, they sent another message threatening to publish 100GB personal and confidential data unless the ransom was paid by the deadline. Officials of the Digital Security Agency confirmed the matter to Dhaka Tribune on Friday morning.
Digital Security Agency officials said the government declared 29 organizations, including Biman, as “critical information infrastructure” under the Digital Security Act in October 2022.
The government took the initiative for the safety of sensitive data, and the provision makes any illegal access to computers, digital devices or networks of such infrastructures a punishable offence. Such an offence would be punished with imprisonment for a maximum term of seven years, a fine not exceeding Tk25 lakh, or both.
Accessing the systems illegally with the intent of harming it will carry a prison term for a maximum of 14 years, or a fine not exceeding Tk1 crore, or both.
Also Read: Risk looms as Biman yet to reclaim hacked email server
A second or further attempt to breach the system illegally will be met with imprisonment for life, a fine not exceeding Tk5 crore, or both.
A guideline from the Digital Security Agency was also provided to organizations to ensure security by following the guidelines.
The Biman authorities have completely failed to follow the guidelines, said Digital Security Agency officials.
Digital Security Agency Director(Operation) Deputy Secretary Mohammed Aminul Ahesan told Dhaka Tribune: "A team is working on the matter but is yet to develop or figure out the reasons (for the cyber attack)."
He hoped it would be possible to recover the servers soon.