A total of 52% banks in the country are at high risk of cyber security, said Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management in its study.
Of the banks, 16% are at a very high risk and 36% at high risk.
The information was unveiled at a workshop of BIBM styled as “IT operations of Bank” held at its auditorium on Thursday.
Cyber security has become the country’s most-talked-about issue in the recent time, especially after Bangladesh Bank lost $81 million from its reserves to international hackers last year.
In his research report titled “Review of IT Operations of Banks in Bangladesh 2016,” Shihab Uddin Khan, associate professor at BIBM, said: “Some 16% banks mentioned that the current situation of cyber security is not enough to prevent any virtual or physical damage to information management system, perceiving the highest risk.”
He said: “Around 36% of the surveyed banks believe that they are at high risk of information loss at any moment. 32% banks reported that they are under moderate risks whereas 12% and 4% banks are low and very low risks respectively.”
Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank Abu Hena Mohd Razee Hassan while inaugurating the workshop said: “Though the banks are using different costly foreign software, they are not free from information security risk. If, all the Bangladeshi banks use the same software, it would lessen both cyber security risk and financial loss.”
He said some banks are at cyber security risk as their budget for IT security as well as operation system are poor.
The banks will have to increase cyber security measures along with awareness programme to avert untoward incident, Hassan said, adding that “Bangladesh Bank is formulating an IT security guideline to ensure cyber security for all banks and financial institutions.”
According to BIBM research, in 2012, approximately, Tk1467 crore was invested for IT operations in the banking sector, excluding the central bank.
The total investment up to 2016 was estimated at Tk30,430 crore since 1968 (considering the installation of computer at Agrani Bank in 1968 which was the first installation of computer in the banking sector of Bangladesh).
In 2016, approximately, Tk1,793 crore was invested in IT System in the banking sector, excluding the central bank, said the study.
The report said a major portion of the IT budget was used to procure hardware and it was 40.4% of the total budget in 2016, which was slightly decreased compared to previous year (41.9% in 2015). The fund for network sector was also decreased compared to 2015.
The second highest budget went to software sector.
It was also found that the budget for security, training and audit was very poor in the last six years though there is a little increase in security, audit and training in 2016 compared to previous years.
“Ignoring these three sectors, it is not possible to ensure better security for banks. The rest of the budget went to power management, vehicle purchase, stationary procurement and decoration purpose,” said Shihab Uddin Khan.
BIBM Director General Dr Toufic Ahmad Choudhury chaired the programme while supernumerary professors of the BIBM Helal Ahmed Chowdhury and Yasin Ali, Director (Research) Shah Md Ahsan Habib, among others, spoke.
