For a nation that is seemingly on the verge of fulfilling its digital ambitions, it is nothing short of concerning that an incident such as the data breach which exposed the personal information of around 50 million citizens was allowed to happen.
As recently detected by cybersecurity researchers, the leaked data comprises the details of millions of Bangladeshi citizens, but what is worse is just how easy that data is for any prying eyes to access anyone can visit the website and find citizens' names, dates of birth, and NID numbers by simply conducting a simple web search.
After repeated assurances from the government that draconian laws such as the Digital Security Act and the draft Data Protection Act are meant to protect citizens and their data from threats on the internet, it appears that such laws have done next to nothing to actually achieve such goals.
While it goes without saying, this issue must be investigated to the fullest extent of the government.
To that end, it is good to know that the ICT Division has formed a probe body to look into this matter, but the most important thing to do now would be to ensure that any existing data leaks are completely plugged. NIDs contain sensitive information on citizens, even the slightest trace of that information being compromised is not a notion we should be comfortable with, considering the scope of abuse any bad actors can engage in with it.
While the dream of a Smart Bangladesh was always one that was going to be fraught with teething problems, given the government's heavy handed attitude regarding cyber security, it is absolutely disappointing that a data breach of this scope was possible to begin with.
Playing fast and loose with citizens' information is not acceptable. The government and all relevant stakeholders need to do better.
