Bangladesh e-Government Computer Incident Response Team (BGD e-Gov CIRT) begins operations

by CIRT Team

Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) is taking necessary measures to improve Bangladesh’s capacity to manage the risks related to digital revolution and deal with fast growing cybercrime. Bangladesh e-Government Computer Incident Response Team (BGD e-Gov CIRT) was established at BCC under the project “Leveraging ICT for Growth, Employment and Governance Project (LICT)”.

BGD e-GOV CIRT mission is to support government efforts to develop and amplify ICT programs by establishing incident management capabilities within Bangladesh, which will make these programs more efficient and reliable.

Main objective of the BGD e-Gov CIRT is to manage cyber security incidents in Bangladesh government’s e-Government network and related infrastructure. BGD e-Gov CIRT will monitor the network for the events that affect security of the National Data Center (NDC) or services deployed in the NDC facilities, carry out preventive measures to minimize disruptions and coordinate incident response.

Websites of around 200 government agencies are hosted in the NDC. Major e-Government applications such as National E-Service System, Online Birth and Death Registration, Online Services of Department of Printing and Publications, are also hosted in the National Data Center. NDC also provides e-mail services to around 60 government agencies and internet services to 9 government agencies.

Constituency of BGD e-Gov CIRT includes all Bangladesh governmental institutions using the NDC infrastructure to host their IT resources and services. It is expected that once the capabilities of the BGD e-Gov CIRT mature, the mandate of the BGD e-Gov CIRT will be extended to the de facto National CIRT.

Furthermore, it is expected that BGD e-Gov CIRT will play an active role in building national cyber defense capabilities. It will organize national awareness campaigns and cybersecurity resilience initiatives, cooperate with national and international organizations. At the moment, BGD e-Gov CIRT has a Memorandum of Co-operation with a global cybersecurity awareness campaign STOP. THINK. CONNECT. Messaging Convention, Inc. as well as a Non-Disclosure Agreement with an Illinois non-profit and a US Federal 501(c)3 organization – Team Cymru Research NFP.

Bangladesh Computer Council is assisted by international consultants from NRD CS acting in joint venture with Norway Registers Development AS in the establishment of a National Computer Incident Response Team (CIRT) for Bangladesh. Certified BGD e-Gov CIRT establishment is the first stage of the National CIRT development process. Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) project Leveraging ICT for Growth, Employment and Governance (LICT) is financed by the World Bank.

CIRT Team