Citizen data leak NID wing suspends access for suspected govt pvt partner organisations The Business Standard

pWednesday November 15 2023 ppThe national identity registration wing of the Election Commission has suspended data access to a number of its government and private partner organisations over suspicions of leaking citizens data online while putting all of its 174 service recipient organisations under watchppThe wings Director General AKM Humayun Kabir informed reporters of the suspension of datasharing on Thursday but declined to specify how many organisations have been hit with the move ppA committee comprising two system managers of the wing is investigating the matter as it emerged that data of a number of smart NID card holders are available on a Telegram channelppHowever no deadline has been fixed for submitting the probe report over the social media leak The details of the leaking incident would be disclosed before reporters once the report is submitted said Humayun KabirppHe claimed that the Election Commission has no direct role behind the leak and that its network was not hacked as the constitutional body is technologically very strongppStill in the age of internet everything is possible and many organisations have been receiving citizens data from the Election Commission for many years Those orchestrating the leak likely gathered data from different partner organisations of the commission Humayun Kabir saidppDifferent partner organisations have access to different types of data For example banks can get names fathers names and addresses of a national identification card holder from the concerned wing of the election commission Similarly police have access to ten types of citizens data ppDue to agreements in place the election commission cannot completely stop providing services to its suspected partners Humayun Kabir noted ppIf any organisation is implicated in the probe report the commission would not impose fines on it as it would be a futile act he hinted The constitutional body would simply hand over the alleged people to the law he saidppIf a software company overseeing citizens data is found guilty the election authority would recommend blacklisting it and banning its activities in the country ppThe national identity registration server has identification data of about 12 crore citizens of Bangladesh and about 55 crore of these have smart identity cardsppNID EC BangladeshppWhile most comments will be posted if they are ontopic and not abusive moderation decisions are subjective Published comments are readers own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers commentsppThe Business StandardppMain Office 4A Eskaton Garden Dhaka 1000ppPhone 8801847 416158 59ppSend Opinion articles to  email protectedppFor advertisement email protectedp