Banks, NBFIs asked to sever ties with CTO Forum
Bangladesh Bank has asked banks and non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) to sever ties with CTO Forum Bangladesh as the latter's president spread false information on the capability of lenders in tackling cyberattacks.
The central bank issued letters on March 1 asking the banks and NBFIs to inform within March 11 of compliance with the instruction.
They will also have to ensure that their officials have withdrawn memberships with the platform and then provide their names.
The instruction has been given as per suggestions of the ICT Division and BGD e-GOV CIRT or Bangladesh Government's Computer Incident Response Team, according to the letter.
Tapan Kanti Sarkar, president of CTO Forum Bangladesh, spread the false information while delivering a speech at a talk-show organised by a private TV channel last year.
CTO Forum Bangladesh is said to be a platform of present and past chief technology officers, chief information officers, head of technology and head of IT or equivalent positions of ICT user organisations in Bangladesh.
Contacted, Sarkar said to have just echoed comments provided by BGD e-GOV CIRT.
The BGD e-GOV CIRT's current responsibilities include receiving, reviewing, and responding to computer security incidents and activities.
"The BGD e-government CIRT said that five Bangladeshi banks had faced cyberattacks. But the organisations successfully resisted the attack. And I just delivered the information at the talk-show," Sarkar said.
"The moderator of the talk-show also asked me whether the Bangladeshi banks are capable of tackling the cyberattack. In reply to the question, I said banks in Bangladesh did not have adequate skill to prevent the attack," he said.
"For this reason, the BGD e-government CIRT was forced to resist the cyberattack," he added.
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