Big Data Analytics in Cyber Security, Digital Bangladesh, Collaboration for Cybersecurity Success

The looming pandemic forced the government to lockdown and declare a general holiday from March 26, 2020. All public and private institutions along with the government were forced to shut down. People were left wandering on this new disease. Doctors and nurses toiled day and night to cure hundreds of people affected in the country by this disease. During the lockdown and general holiday, most of the people were working from home. But some continued workplaces working in the from their Bangladesh Computer Council. They were working in shifts to keep the government running digitally. The data center was kept operational, important government meetings were facilitated through video conferences, and cybersecurity assured for critical information infrastructures. They are the soldiers of Digital Bangladesh.

The infrastructures created by the Bangladesh Computer Council an organization of Information and Communication Technology Division was used to the optimal level to serve the nation. The people behind these amazing services are never visible. They serve unnoticed day and night to keep the government along with services up and running. Sometimes they are forced to work nonstop for more than 24 hours. They do it only for their unflinching resolve towards Digital Bangladesh. Some of them were affected by CoVID, some had to be hospitalized in the ICU. They resumed their duty as soon as they recovered. One of these brave contacted CoVID discharging his duties in the data center. He in turn contacted his pregnant wife. They got well after treatment. Later when their child was born prematurely with blood contamination. The baby had to stay at the neonatal intensive care unit for over three months. Blood transfusion had to 3 July 2021 be provided for the cure. This father provided services during emergencies while his child lay in the hospital bed. Most importantly he resumed full duty with a big smile the next day as his child is released from the hospital. Let us salute these souls who work in the backend to keep the nation ticking through dedication and resilience during pandemics and lockdowns.

The cyberattack on the banks, critical infrastructures continued to grow. The cyber defenders were there to determine, access potential vulnerabilities and exploits threatening the nation in cyberspace. The year 2000 was the auspicious year. It was the birth centenary of the Father-of-the-Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The cyber defender team organized cyber drills to increase the resilience of all working in general and to acquaint the students with the preparation for a career in the cybersecurity space. The national cyber drill was even more memorable as it was organized as part of the Digital Bangladesh program. A total of 220 teams consisting of 1035 participants took part in a two days event.

The cyber defense team helped 32 organizations vulnerabilities in that mitigating 902 were being exploited by hackers. The team also provided 140 threat intelligence to financial institutions on cyber threats and helped improve the cybersecurity posture against hackers. This has saved the country from a repeat of any incidence like that of the Bangladesh Bank heist.

The data center of Bangladesh Computer Council and cyber defense team of the Computer Incident Response Team (CIRT) worked in complete synchronization with the CIRT. The developer of the CoVID vaccination application and health authorities wanted it to be hosted abroad in Amazon Cloud. The team proposed unanimously to host it locally in the data center cloud. The authorities agreed to host locally on our data center cloud. The system after initial challenges has so far done well and 4 July 2021 saved the exchequer about ninety crore taka.

The teams have combined their efforts to roll out local applications. This has resulted in successfully developing and launching of government’s own online video conferencing system, online recruitment system for government and private entities. The team has also built its network operations system to collect global threat intelligence and convert it into actionable intelligence for cybersecurity to national entities. These alerts have saved many institutions to avoid the embarrassment of losing critical information to hackers.

The nation has walked a long distance on its journey towards Digital Bangladesh. The data center and cyber defense team have worked hard and have directly contributed to improving critical spaces in cybersecurity. These contributions have helped the country to jump 25 positions in the ITU cybersecurity index to move up from 78th position to achieve 53rd position. This is not a mere improvement in the index. This improvement also helps in boosting foreign direct investments for the country.

The young team from the data center and cyber defense have worked relentlessly to deliver seamless secured digital services to the nation. These are the true achievement of Digital Bangladesh. It is no longer a slogan but a doctrine. A doctrine accepted by the young talents of Bangladesh. It is my great privilege to work and lead a few of these talented and resilient workforces. . There are many more unsung heroes in other departments, media, emergency services, etc. whose works may never be revealed in public. Let us salute all these great men and women for their sacrifices during the pandemic to make our country great and realize the coveted ‘Sonar Bangla’.

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