AMN/ WEB DESK
The COVID 19 registration software of the Bangladesh government Surokha came under cyber attack recently. Disclosing this in a program in Dhaka State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak said that cyber attacks are being mounted from a country to shut down the Surokha app. However, the attack was thwarted by the software engineers of the Bangladesh government, said the Minister.
The attack was noticed when people were unable to register on the app for some time after the government announced a mass vaccination programme from 7 August. It was shut down for a while for recovery and maintenance.
He further said that cyber security requires coordination between multiple agencies and it is not possible to be handled individually by any one organisation or person. It requires cooperation and concerted effort among multiple organisations.
The Minister said that several other organisations have been identified as important from the point of view of information infrastructure of the country. These include Bangladesh Bank, NID and passport services among others.
The Surokha app is currently working fine at its full capacity. More than 31.5 million people have registered for COVID 19 vaccine on the Surokha app which also provides the vaccination certificate to the people after the process is over.