[🇧🇩] ICT Industry in Bangladesh

Saif · Feb 19, 2024

Interconnected safeguards: ESG-cyber security synergy

In 2024, the ever-evolving digital landscape is accompanied by a dynamic shift in the threat landscape. The cyber security domain is poised for a substantial transformation, anticipating a surge in the complexity of cyber threats. In the contemporary digital economy, businesses are confronted with

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Interconnected safeguards: ESG-cyber security synergy

MOHAMMAD ASHRAFUL ISLAM KHAN
Published :

Feb 17, 2024 10:14

Updated :

Feb 17, 2024 10:14

In 2024, the ever-evolving digital landscape is accompanied by a dynamic shift in the threat landscape. The cyber security domain is poised for a substantial transformation, anticipating a surge in the complexity of cyber threats. In the contemporary digital economy, businesses are confronted with the challenge of harmonizing their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) objectives while ensuring robust cyber security and privacy measures. These concerns have prominently featured on global risk maps for several years. Although the environmental aspects of the ESG agenda have garnered considerable attention, other facets such as cyber security and privacy have not received that much emphasis. This is alarming, given the escalating frequency of cyber threats, impacting business operations, continuity, and reputations.

ESG policies are often perceived primarily as addressing climate change and the social responsibilities of a company. These policies establish ethical practices to protect not only the business itself but also its network of partners and customers, as well as the broader global environment. In this regard, ESG shares common ground with other risk management practices within a company, aiming to mitigate risks for stakeholders and communicate the strategies employed to achieve this. It is imperative for companies to recognize cyber security as an integral component of ESG. Cyber risk stands out as the most immediate and financially impactful sustainability risk that organizations confront today. Those neglecting to implement effective governance in cyber security, incorporating appropriate tools and metrics, will find themselves less resilient and sustainable. Such lapses not only affect the organizations directly but also have repercussions on the interconnected network of entities they rely on, ultimately influencing the stability of companies, communities, and governments.

In 2024, the global business landscape is witnessing a significant shift as enterprises increasingly embrace ESG criteria not merely for regulatory compliance or risk management, but as a pivotal opportunity to reshape their business models. This transformation is underpinned by a profound recognition of the imperative to account for an array of complex external risks that may arise simultaneously. As businesses globally align themselves with ESG principles, the importance of robust cyber security measures cannot be overstated. With the digital realm becoming integral to ESG implementations, ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive data is paramount. Cyber security acts as the linchpin safeguarding the integrity of ESG data, protecting against potential breaches that could compromise not only financial information but also critical ESG-related data.

Bangladesh, while relatively new to the ESG arena, stands at a crucial juncture to accelerate its growth by intertwining its ESG efforts with a robust focus on cyber security. As businesses in Bangladesh embark on this transformative journey, it is imperative to recognise that cyber threats are evolving in sophistication and magnitude. A proactive cyber security strategy will not only fortify the integrity of ESG disclosures but also enhance the overall resilience of businesses in the face of cyber challenges. By prioritizing cyber security in tandem with ESG implementations, Bangladesh can not only meet international standards but also foster a secure and sustainable business environment that will undoubtedly contribute to its long-term economic growth. Embracing these dual pillars of ESG and cyber security will position Bangladesh as a forward-looking player in the global business landscape, fostering trust and resilience in an era marked by unprecedented challenges and opportunities.

Traditionally, the integration of cyber security into ESG practices has not been a focal point. However, the landscape is evolving swiftly, catalyzed by high-profile data breaches, the rapid evolution of the digital economy, and the widespread adoption of remote work. Cyber security has become a crucial element of ESG practices, demanding attention from stakeholders such as investors, employees, customers, regulators, and supply chain partners. The paradigm shift requires a comprehensive integration of cyber security into ESG governance frameworks to effectively manage and mitigate the risks inherent in cyber threats.

In the context of Bangladesh, a nation emerging in the ESG arena, businesses should prioritize the incorporation of robust cyber security measures into their ESG strategies. This entails not only addressing current vulnerabilities but also future-proofing against evolving cyber threats. By doing so, businesses in Bangladesh can instill confidence among stakeholders, align with international ESG standards, and fortify their resilience in an increasingly digitized and interconnected world.

ESG ratings have become indispensable in attracting global investors, particularly European institutional investors who mandate ESG compliance for investment decisions. In the past year, seven Bangladeshi companies earned coveted spots in Bloomberg's sustainability list, joining over 16,000 global corporations. Their inclusion in this prestigious list reflects their commendable performance in environmental, social, and governance domains. As these companies navigate the evolving landscape of ESG expectations, ensuring their overall progress involves not only sustaining their current achievements but also fortifying resilience against emerging challenges. Cyber threats, in particular, loom large in the digital era, necessitating a strategic focus on cyber security. To maintain and enhance their ESG standing, these Bangladeshi firms must proactively address cyber risks, safeguarding not only their data integrity but also reinforcing the holistic sustainability commitments that have garnered them international recognition.

The increasing prevalence of cyber risks poses a genuine threat to the essential systems underpinning global environmental initiatives. An attack on these systems could reverberate throughout the broader global infrastructure, prompting businesses to prioritize cyber security as a paramount concern when addressing environmental factors. Companies must carefully assess how a breach in these systems not only impacts their own operations but also holds the potential to disrupt worldwide infrastructure. Despite this imperative, the integration of cyber security into the ESG framework often remains an overlooked facet for many businesses. As cyber security transforms from an industry-specific challenge into a pervasive global social issue, it becomes integral to all pillars of ESG, mandating its inclusion as a fundamental component of comprehensive business strategy.

Taking a broader societal viewpoint, insufficiencies in cyberspace safeguards can result in significant macro-economic harm with far-reaching national strategic consequences. Beyond financial repercussions, these inadequacies encompass issues such as industrial espionage, the dampening of incentives for innovation and investment, and the infringement of data privacy. Moreover, the threats extend to critical functions that serve as the backbone of economic and national security, public health, and the safety and freedom of citizens. What is increasingly evident to investors is that the perils emanating from cyber security vulnerabilities transcend the immediate companies affected and permeate the entire societal framework supporting the economy and market valuations. Recognizing the interconnected nature of these risks is essential for investors to make informed decisions, as the ramifications extend beyond individual businesses to impact the broader fabric of our economic and social landscape.

ESG integration involves factoring in significant non-financial elements in investment analysis to enhance risk-adjusted returns while simultaneously addressing key socioeconomic and environmental issues. Illustratively, the dynamics surrounding carbon emissions and climate change exemplify how heightened awareness and market valuation of ESG risks can bring about tangible real-world effects. A prominent shift is evident in the mainstream adoption of incorporating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions disclosures into investment processes by investors. Extending this principle to encompass cyber security, businesses now recognize the imperative to integrate robust cyber security measures into their ESG strategies. Just as with environmental factors, acknowledging and mitigating cyber risks not only safeguards the business but also aligns with broader societal interests, making it an integral facet of a comprehensive and forward-thinking investment approach.

ESG and cyber security are interconnected facets, representing two sides of the same coin. The seamless integration of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles is complemented by robust cyber security measures, forming a holistic approach to sustainable and secure business practices. By acknowledging the symbiotic relationship between ESG and cyber security, organisations can not only fortify their risk management strategies but also contribute to a more sustainable and secure global business landscape.

Mohammad Ashraful Islam Khan, previously Head of Supply Chain Advisory Services at KPMG Bangladesh, is a management consultant with expertise in operational optimization and supply chain management.

Saif · Feb 21, 2024

Bangladesh’s first ever data centre ‘Meghna Cloud’ begins operation

Gennext Technologies Limited, a leading ICT company, has recently inaugurated the full-fledged operation of Bangladesh’s first cloud data centre - Meghna Cloud - at Bangabandhu Hi-Tech City in Kaliakoir of Gazipur....

www.newagebd.net

Bangladesh’s first ever data centre ‘Meghna Cloud’ begins operation

Staff Correspondent | Published: 00:38, Feb 13,2024

-- Press release photo.

Gennext Technologies Limited, a leading ICT company, has recently inaugurated the full-fledged operation of Bangladesh’s first cloud data centre - Meghna Cloud - at Bangabandhu Hi-Tech City in Kaliakoir of Gazipur.

The platform will provide cloud service infrastructure, including servers, storage and networking equipment, and associated software technology, said a press release on Monday.

Through this, it will be possible to provide services to both government and private entities, by keeping the country’s data within the domestic territory.

This move is expected to save a large amount of foreign currency the country spends annually for purchasing and using the cloud technology, the release said.

Within just one year, the cloud platform has been operationalised. On 29th December 2022, Gennext made a joint venture agreement with Bangladesh Data Centre Company Limited for Meghna Cloud.

Under the agreement Gennext will build, operate and maintain the Meghna Cloud as well as ensure sales and marketing of the cloud services to government and private sector together with BDCCL.

After visiting the Meghna Cloud data centre on February 8, state minister for posts, telecommunications and information technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak said that this ‘Made in Bangladesh Cloud’ was an excellent example of strategic partnership between government and private sector.

Through this initiative, the country can save a huge amount of foreign currency and ensure more data security, he said.

During the visit, Gennext Technologies chairman Touhidul Islam Chaudhury and Gennext Technologies managing director Alavee Azfar Chaudhury briefed about the cloud centre’s operation to the state minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak and ICT secretary Md. Shamsul Arefin.

Gennext has used state-of-the art technologies to set up the cloud platform and developed a skilled workforce to operate it.
‘Meghna Cloud will support the Smart Bangladesh move forward. We are also setting up a research and development center for teachers and students of both government and private universities’, said Touhidul Islam Chaudhury, chairman of Gennext Technologies.

This initiative will provide training on cloud related technology to about 5,000 students every year, he added.

The company is planning to invest around USD 500 million within the next five years for this project, said Javed Opgenhaffen, vice chairman of Gennext Technologies.

‘We want to work with the government jointly to contribute to the overall development of the country. This cloud platform is expected to play a significant role to establish Smart Bangladesh,’ he said,

The data centre would help the government save foreign currency in purchasing and using cloud technology from other countries as Bangladesh would not require depending only on foreign data storage facilities, he added.

‘Meghna Cloud is hoping to create a security platform which would provide top-most data security to government and non-government organisations,’ said Alavee Azfar Chaudhury, managing director of Gennext Technologies.

In 2019, the government established the tier 4 National Data Centre, the largest in Bangladesh, at the Bangabandhu Hi-Tech City. It is run by BDCCL.

Saif · Feb 21, 2024

Three AI-based Bangla software launched on International Mother Language Day

Commemorating the International Mother Language Day, artificial intelligence-based Bangla language software ‘Bangla Text to Speech – Uchcharon’, ‘Bangla Speech to Text – Kotha’ and Bengali OCR ‘Borna’ were launched on Wednesday. A new Bangla font &ls

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Three AI-based Bangla software launched on International Mother Language Day

UNB

Published :

Feb 21, 2024 19:16

Updated :

Feb 21, 2024 19:30

Commemorating the International Mother Language Day, artificial intelligence-based Bangla language software ‘Bangla Text to Speech – Uchcharon’, ‘Bangla Speech to Text – Kotha’ and Bengali OCR ‘Borna’ were launched on Wednesday.

A new Bangla font ‘Purno’ began its journey during the occasion.

State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications, and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak launched them on Wednesday.

He also launched e-SIM for Teltalk in the event held at the BCC Auditorium in Dhaka.

The ICT state minister said that the launch of the software is a historic event for Bangla and for the 35 crore Bangla-speaking people across the world.

He said that a new dimension has been added to the development of the Bangla language under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina using smart technology.

The state minister said that February 21 is a proud segment of the national history and also for the development of art, literature and culture.

Bengali text-to-speech “Uchcharon” is a TTS software. The technology used to convert text into spoken words by a machine is called TTS or text-to-speech applications. TTS can read text in documents, websites, and screen windows.

At the same time, it can read aloud to the visually impaired people. The software has both male and female voices. Currently, the software can be used from the address read.bangla.gov.bd.

“Katha” is Bengali voice typing software. Voice typing or “speech to text” is the technique of writing words into a computer. It can convert spoken Bengali words to text in standard clear and quiet environments.

The final version of the software can record Bengali major punctuation marks. The software can be used as a web application from the browser by entering the address voice.bangla.gov.bd.

Also, there is an opportunity to use this voice typing service through the Keyboard Android app developed by the project.

The name of Bengali OCR is “Barno”. OCR is used to convert un-editable text in computer documents into editable text. OCR is converting text in PDF or JPEG files to editable text. This character OCRT converts Bangla text into text similar to composed text.

Bilal9 · Feb 25, 2024

"Cypher", a new Tier 4 colocation data center (with 99.9995 uptime guarantee) has started services in Jessore. The organization (AXENTEC) is a spin-off of "Robi", which is a major cellphone services provider. This would be one of two dozen larger datacenters in operation in Bangladesh, and one of four or five Tier 4 datacenters in the country.

Saif · Feb 28, 2024

Are we ready to tackle digital inequality?

The article seeks to explore the readiness of Bangladesh to rein the persisting digital inequalities.

www.thedailystar.net

Are we ready to tackle digital inequality?

Photo: Star

The article seeks to explore the readiness of Bangladesh to rein the persisting digital inequalities. Therefore, it is of great importance to understand the meaning of digital inequalities, the spectrum of digital inequalities, and the extent or depth of such inequalities. All these would help us understand where to focus and how to address the challenges embedded within the digitization process to make Bangladesh Smart by 2041. More importantly, understanding digital inequality would help detect the underlying factors contributing to digital inequality and realize whether we are ready to rein digital inequality in Bangladesh. Today social and economic advancement of any country relies to a great extent on the country's access to modern information and communications technologies (ICTs) like computers, smartphones, and the internet, which play a pivotal role in improving the well-being of the citizens. However, this does not hold such promises for all segments of the population due to the persisting digital divide or digital inequality within a country and Bangladesh is not an exception to this case. While the digital divide focuses mainly on the differences in access to ICTs (i.e., the first-level digital divide), digital inequality refers to the differences in skills of the users (i.e., the second-level digital divide), implying that the high level of digital inequality is a challenging barrier to the digitization process, deployment of digitization process in organizations and businesses and adoption by citizens. Bangladesh dreams of realizing its Smart Bangladesh Vision by 2041 resolving the existing barriers in deployment and adoption through an inclusive manner. Realizing the dream by 2041 would require including the citizens who are lagging behind others in terms of the digitization process. More importantly, digital inclusion would help play a pivotal role in harnessing social and economic development. For the very first, the government of Bangladesh should consider the underlying reasons behind digital inequality for undertaking necessary plans and actions to address the root causes of digital inequality in Bangladesh.

Dr. Muhammad Shahadat Hossain Siddiquee is a Professor of the Department of Economics, University of Dhaka. He could be reached at shahadat.siddiquee@du.ac.bd

Let's start with a discussion on the digital divide between rural and urban areas of Bangladesh. The government data from Bangladesh Sample Vital Statistics shows that the prevalence of internet usage among the rural population is around 37 percent and it is around 54 percent among urban population, implying a gap of 17 percent. Similarly, it finds that such a gap also persists between males and females by around 13 percent. Moreover, a more acute gender gap in the digital divide also persists within rural and urban areas. These simple statistics imply that approximately half of the population is out of internet usage, which would be a great challenge for the government to bring them under the digital umbrella by 2031. Considering the facts, the government of Bangladesh should set up the visionary milestones of achieving access to the internet by all citizens of the country within 17 years (i.e., 3 percent annual growth of internet coverage with a greater focus on rural areas where digital connectivity such as WiFi or broadband connection is still in scarcity). This would help establish the balance in internet usage between rural and urban areas. However, internet access provisioning in remote villages in rural areas would not be as easy as it is expected. As digital inequality by gender is also a major concern, the expansion of digital facilities should inclusively prioritize women. In order to make the digitization process, the government has introduced "One Country, One Rate", but in reality, it differs charging higher prices in rural areas. The two underlying factors behind the low penetration of internet usage in rural areas include infrastructure and technological resources. However, socioeconomic ability and digital literacy among rural people are thought of as constraints in the digitization process. We can guess that internet access among rural people would move positively with the increase in their incomes. However, a huge investment from the government's end is necessary for provisioning digital literacy, especially among the rural youth so that they can employ themselves starting e-commerce, f-commerce, and outsourcing. In addition to these factors, the cost of internet access is around 6.5 times higher compared to the rest of the world, implying that reducing the cost of the internet might help expand the coverage by bringing internet access to more rural people within their affordability. However, the higher level of current inflation, which is around 10 percent in Bangladesh, would pose a serious challenge as the real income of the underserved rural population falls due to higher inflation.

Living in an era of technological change, led by digital revolution, gives rise to societal discontent if disruptions caused by technological change drive the income and wealth inequality in the country. However, the inclusive socio-economic outcomes resulting from such digital revolution point towards a society with more societal well-being, which requires matching of a country's policies and actions with technological changes favoring the people living in the left tail of the income and wealth distributions. It is evident from empirical evidence that the failure to match policies and actions with technological change may result in slower productivity growth, i.e., slower overall economic growth. Therefore, if Bangladesh wants to reap the benefits of digitization from the viewpoint of societal well-being and reduce digital inequality, it should prioritize rectifying the causes of digital inequality, match the timely policies with actions, and establish the shared dynamics between income distribution and productivity. Last but not least, the elements of digital inequalities include varied forms such as educational, infrastructural, social, economic, and usable design which would require a large volume of activities with huge investments. With a low revenue generation of the government of Bangladesh would pose a serious challenge to undertake necessary actions and this might delay in achieving the vision of a country with digital equality.