Collaborative efforts emphasised to combat cyber threats

Speakers from Bangladesh and India emphasised the need to enhance the skills and capabilities of individuals engaged in technology-related tasks to safeguard digital space in the face of fast-growing cyber-attacks and threats at a function on Monday.

They stressed that more collaborative endeavours for sharing knowledge and experiences, along with offering exercises and training in cyber resilience, network vulnerability, cyber risk assessment and awareness etc. can significantly strengthen the capacity to effectively combat cyber-attacks and threats.
 
The inaugural session of the three-day Cyber Security Training and Exercise programme under Cyber-Maitree 2023 was held at the BCC auditorium on Monday.
 
The World Bank funded the Enhancing Digital Government and Economy (EDGE) Project of Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) under the ICT Division organized the function.

Chaired by BCC Executive Director Ranajit Kumar the function was addressed, among others by ICT Secretary Md. Shamsul Arefin, Senior Director of Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), India S. S. Sarma, Director General of Digital Security Agency (DSA) Abu Sayed Md. Kamruzzaman, EDGE Project Director Md. Shakhawat Hossain.

Shamsul Arefin said, “Cyber-Maitree 2023” has been a shining example of collaboration between the government of Bangladesh and India.

“In fact, Cyber-Maitree 2023 will serve as a collaborative platform for the exchange of knowledge, capacity building, and international collaboration in the field of cybersecurity,” he said adding that the participants will be enriched and build their capacity to deal with the cyber-attacks and threats.

Ranajit Kumar said the training and exercise under Cyber-Maitree 2023 will help enrich the employees involved in safeguarding critical information infrastructure.

S S Sarma highlighted the escalating frequency of cyber-attacks in the context of the rapidly advancing digitized world and said that countries' dependence on cyberspace is increasing and critical information infrastructure (CII), such as power systems, civil aviation, national security, banks, and, utilities is connected with the internet.

He stressed the critical importance of enhancing the skills and capacity of individuals involved in IT-related tasks to effectively address and mitigate cyber threats.

Shakhawat Hossain said the various services including government, banking, and finance are connected to the internet. So any incapacity or destruction would have a devastating impact on national security, and the economic and social well-being of citizens, he added.

When asked about Cyber-Maitree 2023, BGD-eGov CIRT Project Director Engineer Saiful Alam Khan, who is coordinating the programme, said this programme has been launched as a part of Bangladesh and India's collaborative efforts to gain knowledge and build the capacity of government officials to address cyber-attacks.

Later in the training session, Senior Scientist of CERT-India Ashutosh Bahuguna presented keynote paper on Cognitive Shifting: Security to Resilience’ that highlighted various cyber threats including cyber extortion and ransom, social engineering, advanced persistent threats, hybrid threats, false flag operations, networks manipulation occurring in the cyberspace.