State Minister for Information and Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak today (July 9) said the government website was not hacked as it happened due to technical weakness. 

He said: "No one hacked the government website. The site had a technical weakness. As a result, the personal information of millions of people was leaked."

The state minister made the remark while responding to reporters at a function at the Bangladesh Computer Council Auditorium in Agargaon. Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority organized this event at ICT Tower.

"We found that the websites where the information was made public did not have the minimum security that should be taken. It was specifically stolen by someone or hacked by cyber hackers - Our investigation didn't find anything like this, he said. 

The state minister said; "It was actually a technical fault. It's hard to call it hacking. Hacking is when someone breaks into a system and steals information. The thing is - no one stole anything from the house. Suppose, for seven days a thing has fallen on the road, now whoever is going on the road is picking it up. One such incident."

Palak said: "We have seen that the information from the website that has become public was not even the minimum security that should be taken. It was specifically stolen by someone hacked by cyber hackers - we didn't find anything like that in the investigation. What we found was that there were some technical weaknesses in the government website. As a result, the information was very easy to see and read. It was open. It is very sad for us"

Regarding taking action, he said that action will be taken against those involved in negligence for what the situation created.

However, the state minister did not reveal the name of that ministry or organization. He said, "I do not want to embarrass the department of that ministry or organization. Publishing this news in the international media is having a negative impact on us."

State Minister for ICT said as data security is of utmost importance, no one can say they are completely safe, but preparation is necessary and no one can avoid this responsibility. 

BDST: 1520 HRS, JULY 09, 2023
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