Special body to thwart cyber crimes against country
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) launched a special body to thwart cyber crimes against the country and ensure national security.
The body, “Bangladesh Computer Security Incident Response Team (BD-CSIRT)”, the first of its kind in the country, started working to this end on Wednesday.
“The BD-CSIRT is mainly assigned to identify the sites, persons or institutions engaged in harmful activities against the state, society and political and religious beliefs using mobile phones, websites and different social networking sites,” said BTRC Chairman Maj Gen (retd) Zia Ahmed.
It will also recommend taking punitive measures against the offenders. In some cases, it will take action directly, after informing BTRC, as per the authority given by the telecom act, Zia told the news agency on Wednesday.
BTRC Director General (Legal and Licence) AKM Shahiduzzaman said a person convicted of cyber crimes may face two to five years of imprisonment and fines ranging from Tk 5 lakh to Tk 5 crore.
“The punishment would be handed down under Sections 69 and 74 of Telecommunication Act,” he added.
Three BTRC cyber crime experts, trained abroad, have already started working in this regard, said Zia.
He said the body, decided at a BTRC special meeting on January 23, was formed as different kinds of value-added services like e-banking and e-ticketing are currently operational, requiring a strong security system.
The 11-member body is headed by BTRC Vice-Chairman Giasuddin Ahmed while the director of systems and services was made member-secretary.
Other members are -- BTRC deputy director of legal and licensing and representatives from International Internet Gateway, mobile phone operators, internet service providers, PSTN operators and cyber cafe associations.
Earlier, BTRC used to take action against the offenders whenever anybody filed a complaint, added Zia.
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