As we Know, After a long time of one way war Bangladesh Black Hat Hackers and 3xp1r3 Cyber Army Stop Hacking Indian Sites and They Declared Peace Because Indian Ministry announced that they will stop Killing people in Border. But a so called Hacking group 'Bangladesh Cyber Army' announced that they are not going to stop the war. But there is a question that where were they at the time of beginning the war? Also Indian hacker's stoped hacking Bangladeshi Sites but TGH (Team grey hat) have started hacking Bangladeshi sites again. Do you know why? Do u Want to know the reason? Ok,Then read The truth Behind BD vs IN Cyber war.
At fast BBHH's started hacking Indian Sites to protest against Border Killing. This is the 1st group that Officially announced the Cyber War. See this message Here
Then Another hacking Group 3xp1r3 Cyber Army join with them. Both Team Ask BCA to be a part of this war but their admin say that indian Hacker's are their brother !! Then after a few days they join war with them. But , do you know why ? They start publishing news more than they are doing . TSR (The security ray) is Their own News site. The Admin of TSR and BCA are Same . Proof : Check it here!
Now The real fact > TSR have a very good relation with Voice of Grey Hat [VOGH]. Here is the Proof Here is the Proof
And as we Know that Voice of Grey Hat is the official News Forum of Team Grey Hat. So it's Clear that BCA & TGH have not only Nice but also a Great relation. Few days before y Team Grey Hat have hacked some Bangladeshi Stock market sites here its Report!
So it's easily proves that Bangladesh Cyber Army is working with Team Grey Hat of India. They just want publicity nothing else. Now it can be easily said that BCA is the most lamer group in this world. I'm going to show you some Proof now.
1. BCA say that they save bd sites. But a BCA Moderator Wants Money to check the vulnerabilites of a site ! Proof : Take a Look!
2. A BCA Moderator named Isti Ak Ahmed who is The Founder Of TSR took money from 3CA (3xp1r3) admin Sajid Ahmed for Make a Hash Server but he Betrayed . He Used the Money in his own way.
Their are many other laming story that i can't describe . So, At last It is Proved That BCA called their Brother TGH in This War Again. At last the good news is that BBHH and 3CA have Started War Against India again.
We all are known to the word Cyber War now. It means the war begins and ends in Cyber War. By this the Cyber Battle Field not became a bloody field, but the victims became helpless some times for this reason.
No a days Internet is no more safe for the newbie people. Because scamming, spamming, phishing, hacking, viruses and other things made internet too much hard for those people. The new users always thinks that "If they have to survive on internet then they have to learn How to hack?" isn't it so much crazy stuffs? But its the truth! Everyday more then 50 million peoples search on Google and in other Search Engine's "How to hack Facebook". They runs here their eyes here and there to find out how to hack Facebook, Gmail, Yahoo! mail, Hotmail and other stuffs.
Recently an Incident happened between Bangladesh-India. A Cyber war is continuing between Bangladesh-India. Indian hacker hacked till now likely 1000 websites of Bangladesh including Government Owned website. In Response Bangladesh Hacking Team's given an perfect reply by hacking more that 30,000+ website's including private and ministry department websites of India.
Some people was told that Anonymous the biggest hacking team of now-a-days has taken aside with Bangladesh hacking Teams. And Anonymous Bangladesh taken a side for a days only, and after that day they back down from their stands.
Bd Xtor, the Co-Founder cum Administrator of the BBHH told us that "This war has been declared by Bangladesh Black Hat Hackers [BBHH]"
When we asked them why they are trying to do that? They told that they became cruel now and it is now unbearable. Everyday Indian Border Security Force [BSF] is killing and torturing Bangladeshi people in the border area. Even children's are also in the dead list!
Now the whole Youth Generation of Bangladesh has raised their voice to recover their country from this matter. An youth leader commented on BBHH group, 'If any one have a friend like India, then they don't need any Enemies.'
Bangladeshi Peoples are cruel about:
1. Border Killing
2. Tipai Mukh Dam
3. Tista water allocations to be signed.
and more and more!
Two days before I also got to know that, by violating the border law BSF started to make another Dame in Vurungamari of Kurigram near only 30 meters away from the no mans land border line area.
Today we have taken several Interviews of the Peoples who are associated with Bangladesh-India Cyber war and taking aside of Bangladesh by Hacking. Yes we are going to take an interview session of the Members of Bangladesh Black Hat Hackers.
This is a copy of Interview session between our Staff Correspondent and a Hacker who's associated with Bangladesh-India Cyber War and aside with BBHH as a General Member and his code name is 'Jasmin'.
Staff Correspondent - Who are you?
Jasmin - Bangladeshi
Staff Correspondent - Are you associated with BBHH?
Jasmin - Yes because this is the only way which can help me to fight for my brothers and sisters rights. Cause I believe violence never works.
Staff Correspondent - Well said!
Jasmin - Thanks
Staff Correspondent - How did you get involved with BBHH?
Jasmin - From other pages of fb then u researched about it found about BBHH I thought they need support here am I. though can't hack but cab support them morally ...
Staff Correspondent - hm that's means you are in supporters side?
Jasmin - yup and if I have chance to work for them I will do so without asking any questions.
Staff Correspondent - what do you think about "Cyber Security"?
interms if what? bd? u mean cyber security for us?
Jasmin - Honestly I don't have much idea about cyber security but all I can say is in terms of Bangladesh situation. Though our government claim that we are digitalized country but our cyber system is very poor that's the only reason Indians had the guts to hack our systems.. so I think it's very important to have a secured cyber "country" ... that's why we need a team like BBHH... May it is not at all a perfect answer!
Staff Correspondent - What do you know about the cyber war?
Jasmin - We Bangladeshis did not have any other option other than starting a cyber war because we don't want blood for blood and this duty is our government to protect but they are now taking aside of Indian... In my sense I think this cyber war is also against our government. and I support this war with my whole heart...
Staff Correspondent - It means you want to keep your country strong in Cyber world?
Jasmin - yup
Staff Correspondent - Well thats it. Thank you for joining me.
Jasmin - Wellcome dear.
Well this was the recent conversation with Jasmin - who is a member of Bangladesh Black Hat Hackers.
By this conversation we get to know that She is a member of BBHH and she proud about that. She not at all a hacker but she is supporting this hacktivism.
This is a copy of Interview session between our Staff Correspondent and a Hacker who's associated with Bangladesh-India Cyber War and aside with BBHH as a Co-Founder cum Administrator and his code name is 'Bd Xtor'.
Staff Correspondent: Who are you?
Bd Xtor: i am bd xtor a cyber fighter I fight for my country
Staff Correspondent: It means you are a hacker?
Bd Xtor: In this sence you can say it yes i am a hacker
Staff Correspondent: What led you to become a hacker?
Bd Xtor: long time i was looking for a way to rise my voice aginst in-justice .and also when bangladesh going to digitalized i feel we have to work for our cyber security and then i start my learning and its helped me to become a hacker
Staff Correspondent: What was your first experience with "hacktivism"?
Bd Xtor: that was very intaresting my 1st operation was a porno forum that i deleted all database of that forum what was a most popular forum
Staff Correspondent: We all know about the Cyber War between Bangladesh-India, What is that in your eyes?
Bd Xtor: this cyber war we started for rise our voice aginst bsf killing not only bsf killing there have some other issues also our main goal was to inform all citizen of the world what indin government is doing with us. it is a fight for our right. we need justice. thats why we are in war.
Staff Correspondent: So what do you think they will hear whatever you are trying to tell them?
Bd Xtor: yes all ready we get result indian gov 2 time announce they will stop boder killing and 8 bsf solder get arrest. its a result our war.
Staff Correspondent: Tell us something about your Team mates and Groups?
Bd Xtor: bbhh is a family and we wll are as like brothers. all admin and mod are very capable
Staff Correspondent: We got to hear that Anonymous is working with your Team and some other countries like Pakistan and others countries hacking team joined against India in this Cyber war how much true is it?
Bd Xtor: yea 1st attack day porki,indonesian,thi and malaysia hacker was join in this war but we dont call them or we dont want ther healp after that day only bd hackers group fight on this war
Staff Correspondent: Is other Bangladeshi hacking team supported you? If so then Who they are? and what team declared the war?
Bd Xtor: BBHH Decleard this war.form the begining all BBHH thought about indian gov in-justice and then we plan for take some step.we declear this war and 3xp1r3 cyber army allways supported. we are very great full to them.after declearing the war 3xp1r3 the only group who was also declear war with us aginst india.
Staff Correspondent: Last day I read out an article and in their Bangladesh Cyber Army claimed to be the first hacker community in Bangladesh? Does it means they deaclared the War against Indian Cyber world?
Bd Xtor: lolz BCA is the first group in Bangladesh i dont accept it there was to many small hacker group allways in bBangladesh. and there have no chance to say that they declear war aginst india.they never interested about indian war and after we declear war they join after 3 dayes.any one can see there past post before war in BCA group its very clear .
Staff Correspondent: But its now buzzing on my ear that when everybody stopped the war why TGH attacked again?
Bd Xtor: its my persional openion i guess there is something hiden between TGH and one of bd suspicious hackers group.if we see indian media news after TGH stop declear war then there have 2 many question indicate about that bd group who r trying to proof there as a ethical group. and when i post 100 hacked website in TGH group that time they infrom me they are going stop this war and at night when they invite me to a chat metting and inform us they have secrect about our gov but they cant show or peof any thing .that time i realise that Tgh and that suspicious group working togather for a publecity nothing more
Staff Correspondent:And what will be the suggestion or advice to the Government of Bangladesh?
Bd Xtor: Bangladesh gov should need to use our talented Bangladeshi hackers for secure our cyber space. Also government can use them for Bangladesh cyber defence team as like as china. Only our telented hackres can healp to creat a secure Bangladeshi cyber space.
Staff Correspondent - Okay dear thank you for giving me the time.
Bd Xtor: Welcome and thank you too.
Well this was the recent conversation with Bd Xtor - who is a member of Bangladesh Black Hat Hackers.
By this conversation we get to know that Bangladesh Cyber Army is not the team who declared the war. By his words BCA is associated with Indishell and Team Grey Hat [TGH]
This is a copy of Interview session between our Staff Correspondent and a Hacker who's associated with Bangladesh-India Cyber War and aside with BBHH as a Core Member & Crew and his code name is 'Double R'.
Staff Correspondent - Who are you?
Double R - I'm A Double R, n00b hacker of BBHH.
Staff Correspondent - What is hack in your eyes?
Double R - To notify site admin about his sites security hole.
Staff Correspondent - What was your first experience with "hacktivism"?
Double R - but it depends on a hackers mind, I just support anon, & Hactivism, thats all.
Staff Correspondent- okay I got it! How did you get involved with BBHH?
Double R - From my Facebook friend
Staff Correspondent - Okay! We all know about the Cyber War between Bangladesh-India, What is that?
Double R - Indian border security force, killed our innocent people in border, also killed a child, as they do in kashmir, we requested to their government to stop it but they dont care also their r so many reason at all, they blocked us from every corner.
Staff Correspondent - hmmm So what do you think they will hear whatever you are trying to tell them?
Double R - We r just trying but actually it was our governments job, to take necessary steps but they are not concern about this so, we are trying to hack indian sites so that their government hear our cry.
Staff Correspondent - Can you measure the ammount of the sites hacked by yourself? If so then what is the ammount?
Double R - Yap but i told u first,, that im a n00b hacker,, and i just start hacking only for Op India mission... Maybe i hacked more than 120 sites,, with 60 zone - h.com mirror and 95 z-zone .tk mirror
Staff Correspondent - We got to hear that Anonymous is working with your Team and some other countries like Pakistan and others countries hacking team joined against India in this Cyber war how much true is it?
Double R - Thats not so true at all. Bangladesh, Cypries And Some Other Anon Group Support Our Mission.. But Only Bangladesh Anon Worked on it.. But Thats little,, And Pakistan, or others r doing their own mission.. SHc,, & VVIP also hacked some site to support us,, but Originally they r doing their own job.. so i want to say that Only 3 BD Hacker group r involved in this war
Staff Correspondent - Tell us something about your Team mates and Groups?
Double R - Bangladesh Black Hat Hackers [BBHH], 3xp1r3 Cyber Army [3CA] & Bangladesh Cyber Army [BCA]
Staff Correspondent - So who declared the war? Last day I read out an article and in their Bangladesh Cyber Army claimed to be the first hacker community in Bangladesh. Does it means they deaclared the War against Indian Cyber world?
Double R - BBHH, And 3CA has hacked Indian sites Before the Declaration but officially BBHH Declared the war. They can be the 1st hacker group in Bangladesh it doesn't means they declared the war. It is proved that, an Admin of BBHH declared the war
Staff Correspondent- oh thats the thing!
Double R - And at the 1st time of war, 1 of BBHH mod ask them to join war but they ban our mod from their group and said that indishell is their friend.
Staff Correspondent - Indishell? oh it means BCA is associated with Indishell ?
Double R - BCA Admin Ist iak ahmed said that.. Ashell india is his friend They were, I dont know If they involved now or not But its clear that BCA associated with TGH
Staff Correspondent - But its now buzzing on my ear that when everybody stopped the war why TGH attacked again?
Double R - Cause BCA dont stopped the war & in my view, BCA called TGH in this war
Staff Correspondent - So what do you think, when this war will be stopped?
Double R - We Stopped it, cause indian ministry told that they 'll stop killing,,,but BCA starts it again,, only If Indian Govt. Officially announce that they 'll stop border killing.. then we will stop it
Staff Correspondent - And what will be the suggestion or advice to the Government of Bangladesh?
Double R - They Should Talk to Indian Government to Stop border killing and They Have to be strong.
Staff Correspondent - Only the Border killings? But I got a lots of issues from the hacked indian sites?
Double R - Yes there are but border killing is the main issue.
Staff Correspondent - Okay dear thank you for giving me the time.
Double R - Welcome and thank you too.
Well this was the recent conversation with Double R - who is a member of Bangladesh Black Hat Hackers.
By this conversation we get to know that Bangladesh Cyber Army is not the team who declared the war. By his words BCA is associated with Indishell and Team Grey Hat [TGH]
The prevailing belief that USA's national Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an impenetrable and secure American facility was broken the past week when on March 2 and 3, media around the world reported how hackers have stolen employee credentials and gained access to "mission-critical" projects thus compromising USA's national security.
Central Florida News and other media reported that NASA's Inspector General Paul martin has testified in a report before the Subcommittee on Investigation and Oversight, House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, entitled 'NASA Cybersecurity: An Examination of the Agency's Informating Security', that more than 5,000 security breaches happaned last year in 13 major networks.
Despite spending over $1.5 billion annually on Information Technology (IT)-related activities, including $58 million fo IT security, 'In 2010 and 2011, NASA reported 5,408 computer security incidents that resulted in the installation of malicious software on or unauthorised access to its systems. These incidents spanned a wide continuun from individuals testing their skill to break into NASA systems, to well-organised criminal enterprises hacking for profit, to instructions that may have been sponsored by foreign intelligence services seeking to further their countries' objectives.'
Sources at the Kennedy Space Center said they had 973 'security events' in 2010 and 463 in 2011.
While most countries of the world have succumbed to attckas of hackers at numerous times, Bangladesh has for long been waiving away the importance of cyber security despite pledging a 'Digital bangladesh' to the entire nation in their election manifesto prior to the ninth parliamentary elections in 2008. As Bnagladesh's cyber properties were ravaged by alleged indian hackers on February 11, leading to a cyber war beteen Bangladesh and Indian hackers during mid February, the entire nation woke up on to the vulnerable state of country's properties on the internet.
The cyber war was initiated when news of Indian hacker groups, Indishell, Hindustan Cyber Army (HCA) and Indian Cyber Army (ICA) hacking five (5) Bangladesh ministry websites, were reported by bangladeshi media on February 11. The cyber assault triggered a wave of cyber attacks from Bangladeshi counterparts, Bangladesh Black Hat Hackers (BBHH), Bangladesh Cyber Army (BCA) adn 3xp1r3 Cyber Army (3CA).
From February 11 till February 14, international media who covered the war claimed that over 400 Bangladeshi sites were hacked by Indian hackers and over 20,000 Indian websites including government sites like the Border Security Force's (BSF) and numerous private websites were attacked by Bangladeshi hackers.
There was no significant destruction of data or financial loss reported on either side.
Indishell, ICA and the HCA posted ominous messages to Bangladeshi hackers on the bangladeshi sites, while in reply, Bangladeshi hackers posted messages and images protesting the killing and torture of bangladeshi nationals at the hands of BSF personnel at the 4,165-kilometer long India-Bangladesh border, India's construction of the Tipaimukh Dam that is likely to have severe environmental effects on Bangladesh and adjoining areas of India. The bangladeshi hackers also poeted messages about the Teesta water sharing, let bangladesh television programmes be aired in India and more.
Indian hackers stopped hacking Bangladeshi sites by February 14, driving some Indian media to dub Bangladeshi hackers the "Victor".
But BBHH continued to hack Indian sites. This correspondent managed to get an email response from Optimus Black Burn, a core hacker of BBHH, on February 26. In the email, Balack Burn wrote, 'Our hacking is ongoing. BBHH, BCA, 3CA are all working together.'
While he couldn't provide the actual number of sites hacked till date, black Burn claimed, "The cyber war is over because we do note have any oponents. Indian hackers left the cyber war field and the Indian hackers left the cyber war field and the Indian media has already reported that we are the winners."
'But our protest is still going on. We are now fighting against injustice and brutality of India,' he wrote.
Black Burn denied the allegations by foreign media that hackers fromother countries were aiding the Bangladesh cyber-front. 'It's totally false. We do not have any connection with any international hacking groups, especially Pakistani hackers hacked Indian sites for kashmir. They are not with us...' the email read. 'We do not need any help' as 'we have the power to fight on our own.'
About affiliation with Anonymous, an international loosely collective of hackers who has hacked US govenment websites, Sony, PBS, the Vatican, Wall Street Journal of Germany and more, Black Burn wrote, "No... But some anonymous members morally support us.'
But immediately, the next day, BBHH declared 'an ed to their cyber attacks on India' on their Facebook page, taking th outcomne of two-day long talks between the Indian union home minister Palaniappan Chidambaram and Bangladesh Home Minister Sahara Khatun at New Delhi, as a positive sign. At the home-ministerial level talkes that concluded on February 25, Delhi had assured Dhaka to bring border killings 'down to zero'.
However, BCA claimed that as Indian Grey hat hackers again attacked a number of Bangladesh websites around the end of February, BCA hacked and permanently disabled the website of Indian hacker community, hackerindia.com.
On March 7, Bd Xtor, a co-administrator and core hacker of BBHH, wrote to this Xtra correspondent claiming that Indian hackers have declared a cyber war again, thus initiating phase 2 of the war between Bangladesh and India. As of march 7, the Security Ray (TSR), an online journal, speculated that the total number of hacked sites now stands at 35,000.
The incident seriously questions the cyber security of Bangladesh, which is fairly new to the world of Information Technology.
In an exclusive conversation with New Age Xtra, hackers of bangladesh Cyber Army (BCA) pointed out the flaws in our cyber security recently. One of the hackers, who had hacked into Google Labs in september last year, said to Xtra, 'Hackers are always looked at in a negative light. But, most hackers try to find flaws in websites and servers. They (hackers) the write back to the administrator of the said website or server, pointing out the flaw and suggesting solutions to the administrator.'
BCA claimed to be the first hacker community in Bangladesh that was initiated in 2010. Members of BCA later formed the BBHH and 3CA. 'Over the years, our knowledge has grown as members in our community learn from peers. This helps them to learn more and do better in the profession of IT and software development,' said another hacker.
the hackers pointed out that hacking Bangladeshi and other South Asian websites have become convenient in the region. They also said that almost all government websites in Bangladesh have the lowest level of Web security.
'Bangladeshi hackers often hack these sites, without any financial or data loss. They put small marks or posts on websites that no visitor can understand except for the administrator,' said a hacker.
The hackers pointed out that important government sites have almost no security. 'But while these adminstrators never replied, the solutions we had mailed wwere never even implemented,' said one of them. 'At times the emails even bounced, signifying that the email addresses provided on the website are either inactive or they are not being chacked by the administrators,' said a hacker.
Sumon Ahmed Sabir, vice president of Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) and a cyber security expert in Bangladesh, opined that the security features are vulnerable in most government owned websites. ‘That is why a large portion of the websites hacked belong to the Bangladesh government. Not much of technical expertise is required to hack most of these websites which are very poorly coded. Skills and expertise are utilised when websites hacked are of professional standards,’ he said to Xtra.
A BCA representative said that hacking has become convenient in South Asia due to lack of proper security measures. ‘Of all the South Asian countries, India’s web security is at considerably better standard, with Pakistan coming at second and Bangladesh’s being minimal,’ he said, claiming that from all the South Asian countries, India’s hacker community is also the biggest.
He explained that as hackers use various proxy servers and, after each attack, the hacked server logs are cleared. ‘So, when cyber crime authorities check, they find that the server was accessed from various parts of the world,’ he said.
When Xtra asked the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) whether investigations are underway to identify hackers that defaced the Bangladeshi sites, Md Giashuddin Ahmed, vice chairman of BTRC, said that the government has formed a committee, including BTRC officials to take steps to stop the cyber war and other form of cybercrimes.
‘The committee has held two meetings and will suggest an action plan to stop such cyber crimes,’ he said. Giashuddin Ahmed added, ‘As per the government direction, a specialised team is closely monitoring online activities and contents of blogs and social networking sites to track online offenders,’ although till now, ‘no hacker has been traced so far and the operation procedure is yet to be finalised.’
Hackers are confident that during the so-called cyber war, ‘Bangladeshi hackers did not violate article 56 of Information Communication Technology (ICT) Act, 2006 of Bangladesh, as there was no financial loss or destruction of data while hacking the sites.’
Sub-section 1 of article 56 of the ICT Act, 2006 states, ‘If any person-- with the intent to cause or knowing that he is likely to cause wrongful loss or damage to the public or any person, does any act and thereby destroys, deletes or alters any information residing in a computer resource or diminishes its value or utility or affects it injuriously by any means; damage through illegal access to any such computer, computer network or any other electronic system which do not belong to him; then such activity shall be treated as hacking offence.’
Sub-section 2 of the same article in the Act states, ‘Whoever commits hacking offence under sub-section (1) of this section he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years, or with fine which may extend to Taka one crore, or with both.’
Sumon said, that while he cannot justify the practice of hacking of Bangladeshi and Indian websites, ‘the intentions of attacking the websites on both ends were not aimed at damaging them. They only removed some contents, put some images, used cursive words or shut it down temporarily. There was no intention to cause financial damage. The attack was aimed at generating propaganda.’
He continued, ‘The contents in our present ICT Act only protect us of local violations. Internet is something that goes beyond the territory. Hence, addressing online crimes is still a grey area. It could be someone sitting in the United States, using a computer server in India to initiate an attack on a Bangladeshi website. Under such circumstances, there is hardly enough evidence because the logs can be cleared. So, addressing the issue is still a very complicated process.’
***
Hackers further divulged that even when Pakistan and Indian hackers have been at each other’s cyber security since 1998, the hacker communities of Bangladesh and India always maintained a friendly relation.
The ‘ties’ were strained following spread of a 10-minute long video clip where BSF personnel stripped and tortured Habibur Rahman, a 22-year-old Bangladeshi cattle smuggler who had crossed the border to India. The clip was aired by media across the globe on January 18 and 19.
India claimed to have suspended the eight BSF personnel but did not apologise for the incident. On the other hand, Bangladeshi ministers said they were ‘not worried’ about the incidents at the border.
Adding fuel to Bangladesh public’s outrage on February 8, was BSF chief U K Bansal’s comment to the BBC that firing at India-Bangladesh border will continue ‘so long criminal activities would continue to take place’. The statement seemed to be in contradiction to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s assurances, while visiting Dhaka in September 2011, that non-lethal measures will be taken against Bangladeshi suspects at the border.
‘After all this, the temporary deactivation of five Bangladesh government sites by Indian hackers seemed like a call for cyber war,’ said a BCA representative.
Implying that protests against border killings and the Tipaimukh dam construction is a form of ‘hacktivism’, Bangladeshi musician, blogger and cyber-activist Maqsood Haque said, ‘The moves by Bangladeshi hackers are signs of frustration as the Bangladesh government did not properly address these issues.’
According to Dhaka-based human rights organisation Odhikar, around 31 Bangladeshi nationals were killed by the BSF in 2011.
New York-based Human Rights Watch in a 2010-study claimed that more than 900 Bangladeshis and 164 Indians were killed by the BSF between 2000 and 2010 at the India-Bangladesh border. Poor Bangladeshi border residents smuggle cattle from India to Bangladesh as cattle prices are 35 to 40 per cent higher in Bangladesh.
‘It is tragic that despite taking legal actions against these smugglers, BSF shoots to kill them and our government does not even protest,’ lamented Haque. He continued that while tracking down hackers may be tough for authorities as hackers may be operating from 20 different Internet Protocols (IPs), ‘If apprehended the hackers may face severe repercussions.’
‘We are preparing the operation procedure that will be finalised on the third meeting of the committee going to be held on March 8,’ said Giashuddin Ahmed while speaking to Xtra last week.
Sumon Ahmed hoped that Bangladesh will learn from the recent incident. As the country is gradually becoming IT-enabled, ‘When transaction-based websites will emerge in the country that is when we will be affected most,’ he warned.
He pointed out that because of poor security on our web servers, other countries are becoming affected. ‘Hackers are using Bangladeshi servers as proxy or phishing sites to acquire passwords and usernames of prominent international banks and other e-commerce websites, which allow them to transfer money to their desired accounts. Just because we are not being affected, we are not being concerned. But such fraudulent websites are very common and we receive a lot of complaints from the CERTs (Computer Emergency Response Teams) of other countries,’ he added.
He concluded that although the word ‘hacker’ was not always a negative term, ‘Not all hacking is bad or should be considered so. Somebody identifying a bug or informing the authority is a noble job. Unless and until that bug is exploited to attack it is a good deed.’
Sumon Ahmed Sabir, vice president of Internet Service Providers Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) and a cyber security expert in Bangladesh, opined that the security features are vulnerable in most government owned websites. ‘That is why a large portion of the websites hacked belong to the Bangladesh government. Not much of technical expertise is required to hack most of these websites which are very poorly coded. Skills and expertise are utilised when websites hacked are of professional standards,’ he said to Xtra.
A BCA representative said that hacking has become convenient in South Asia due to lack of proper security measures. ‘Of all the South Asian countries, India’s web security is at considerably better standard, with Pakistan coming at second and Bangladesh’s being minimal,’ he said, claiming that from all the South Asian countries, India’s hacker community is also the biggest.
He explained that as hackers use various proxy servers and, after each attack, the hacked server logs are cleared. ‘So, when cyber crime authorities check, they find that the server was accessed from various parts of the world,’ he said.
When Xtra asked the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) whether investigations are underway to identify hackers that defaced the Bangladeshi sites, Md Giashuddin Ahmed, vice chairman of BTRC, said that the government has formed a committee, including BTRC officials to take steps to stop the cyber war and other form of cybercrimes.
‘The committee has held two meetings and will suggest an action plan to stop such cyber crimes,’ he said. Giashuddin Ahmed added, ‘As per the government direction, a specialised team is closely monitoring online activities and contents of blogs and social networking sites to track online offenders,’ although till now, ‘no hacker has been traced so far and the operation procedure is yet to be finalised.’
Hackers are confident that during the so-called cyber war, ‘Bangladeshi hackers did not violate article 56 of Information Communication Technology (ICT) Act, 2006 of Bangladesh, as there was no financial loss or destruction of data while hacking the sites.’
Sub-section 1 of article 56 of the ICT Act, 2006 states, ‘If any person-- with the intent to cause or knowing that he is likely to cause wrongful loss or damage to the public or any person, does any act and thereby destroys, deletes or alters any information residing in a computer resource or diminishes its value or utility or affects it injuriously by any means; damage through illegal access to any such computer, computer network or any other electronic system which do not belong to him; then such activity shall be treated as hacking offence.’
Sub-section 2 of the same article in the Act states, ‘Whoever commits hacking offence under sub-section (1) of this section he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years, or with fine which may extend to Taka one crore, or with both.’
Sumon said, that while he cannot justify the practice of hacking of Bangladeshi and Indian websites, ‘the intentions of attacking the websites on both ends were not aimed at damaging them. They only removed some contents, put some images, used cursive words or shut it down temporarily. There was no intention to cause financial damage. The attack was aimed at generating propaganda.’
He continued, ‘The contents in our present ICT Act only protect us of local violations. Internet is something that goes beyond the territory. Hence, addressing online crimes is still a grey area. It could be someone sitting in the United States, using a computer server in India to initiate an attack on a Bangladeshi website. Under such circumstances, there is hardly enough evidence because the logs can be cleared. So, addressing the issue is still a very complicated process.’
***
Hackers further divulged that even when Pakistan and Indian hackers have been at each other’s cyber security since 1998, the hacker communities of Bangladesh and India always maintained a friendly relation.
The ‘ties’ were strained following spread of a 10-minute long video clip where BSF personnel stripped and tortured Habibur Rahman, a 22-year-old Bangladeshi cattle smuggler who had crossed the border to India. The clip was aired by media across the globe on January 18 and 19.
India claimed to have suspended the eight BSF personnel but did not apologise for the incident. On the other hand, Bangladeshi ministers said they were ‘not worried’ about the incidents at the border.
Adding fuel to Bangladesh public’s outrage on February 8, was BSF chief U K Bansal’s comment to the BBC that firing at India-Bangladesh border will continue ‘so long criminal activities would continue to take place’. The statement seemed to be in contradiction to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s assurances, while visiting Dhaka in September 2011, that non-lethal measures will be taken against Bangladeshi suspects at the border.
‘After all this, the temporary deactivation of five Bangladesh government sites by Indian hackers seemed like a call for cyber war,’ said a BCA representative.
Implying that protests against border killings and the Tipaimukh dam construction is a form of ‘hacktivism’, Bangladeshi musician, blogger and cyber-activist Maqsood Haque said, ‘The moves by Bangladeshi hackers are signs of frustration as the Bangladesh government did not properly address these issues.’
According to Dhaka-based human rights organisation Odhikar, around 31 Bangladeshi nationals were killed by the BSF in 2011.
New York-based Human Rights Watch in a 2010-study claimed that more than 900 Bangladeshis and 164 Indians were killed by the BSF between 2000 and 2010 at the India-Bangladesh border. Poor Bangladeshi border residents smuggle cattle from India to Bangladesh as cattle prices are 35 to 40 per cent higher in Bangladesh.
‘It is tragic that despite taking legal actions against these smugglers, BSF shoots to kill them and our government does not even protest,’ lamented Haque. He continued that while tracking down hackers may be tough for authorities as hackers may be operating from 20 different Internet Protocols (IPs), ‘If apprehended the hackers may face severe repercussions.’
‘We are preparing the operation procedure that will be finalised on the third meeting of the committee going to be held on March 8,’ said Giashuddin Ahmed while speaking to Xtra last week.
Sumon Ahmed hoped that Bangladesh will learn from the recent incident. As the country is gradually becoming IT-enabled, ‘When transaction-based websites will emerge in the country that is when we will be affected most,’ he warned.
He pointed out that because of poor security on our web servers, other countries are becoming affected. ‘Hackers are using Bangladeshi servers as proxy or phishing sites to acquire passwords and usernames of prominent international banks and other e-commerce websites, which allow them to transfer money to their desired accounts. Just because we are not being affected, we are not being concerned. But such fraudulent websites are very common and we receive a lot of complaints from the CERTs (Computer Emergency Response Teams) of other countries,’ he added.
He concluded that although the word ‘hacker’ was not always a negative term, ‘Not all hacking is bad or should be considered so. Somebody identifying a bug or informing the authority is a noble job. Unless and until that bug is exploited to attack it is a good deed.’
