IT APPEARS that Bangladesh Bank (BB) authorities have learned no lesson from the cyber theft of its funds with Federal Reserves account in New York. The incident in which BB lost US$ 100 million and narrowly saved another US$ 870 million, showed the central bank has lost effective control over its reserves and the cyber safety of funds at home and abroad. But what appears quite surprising is that despite the break in of its highly protective payment system in which involvement of bank officials is feared, BB has reportedly decided to quickly replace its software in all computers to be supplied by its own cyber expert. Rakesh Asthana is the cyber security expert and adviser to BB Governor Dr Atiur Rahman on IT matters. He also runs his own business firm and a report in an English daily on Friday said Governor Dr Atiur Rahman has decided to give the supply contract of software to his own adviser. We don’t know why the Governor is so quick and the choice of giving the contract to his own adviser is critically viewed by many BB officials describing it as a whimsical decision. It ignores greater safety issue and even may more endanger the secrecy of banking, they fear. Moreover replacing existing software by the new ones would delete all information preserved in the system over the years and many fear again that it may also wash away important information related to the proof of the hacking of the central bank cyber system and this may in turn allow real culprits to escape from being identified. It is not time to replace the software when more investigations are required to unearth the truth. The fact is that the move by the Governor to integrate the central bank and the entire financial sector including banks and non-banks financial institutions (NBFIs) with the new software also seems to be highly risky that may eventually lead to compromise of vital secret of the nation’s financial system to outsiders. It is an open secret that the government has totally failed to protect the country’s banking; the entire financial system is unprotected and almost abandoned to incapable hands. Governor is working as a political propagandist of the ruling party instead of saving the banking. The Finance Minister is speaking tall instead of proving him an effective administrator. In our view they must resign immediately to allow rebuilding the collapsed safety of banks and financial institutions. The Governor’s IT expert has already investigated the reported hacking of the central bank account engaged by the central bank and reported that primary probe found no involvement of BB officials in stealing of reserves. He however said investigations are not over and he is looking out whether any internal forces were involved with external forces. Awarding supply contract to such a person having dubious business interest is a high security risk and the BB authorities must stop it. It is important that selection of software to replace the central bank’s system needs to be carefully made and neutral suppliers selected accordingly. The Governor must understand he has lost his credibility and he must stop the procurement business in hands.
