Once, there was a couple in Chattogram who hacked multiple people's social media accounts. They blackmailed the victims into sharing their pictures online and asked them to provide money. This is an example of how cybercrimes can cause harm to people and why it is essential to ensuring safe digital connectivity.
Another example: one night, a young girl received a call. The people from the other side claimed they were calling from a mobile financial institution, and an error had occurred in her account that needed fixing immediately. However, the girl was asked to send a certain amount to a phone number to fix the error. And they insisted that she would lose her account if she didn't send money. The girl was about to send the money, but due to her knowledge of cybercrimes, she denied the request and disconnected the line. She later contacted customer care, who confirmed it was a spam call.
In the second example, the girl was smart enough to avoid becoming a cybercrime victim. However, there are many incidents where people have fallen victim to cybercrimes and suffered financially and socially. According to a report by the Bangladesh e-Government Computer Incident Response Team (BGD e-Gov CIRT) and Cyber Crime Awareness Foundation (CCA Foundation) in 2021, cybercrimes have increased alarmingly across Bangladesh. Be it hacking of social accounts, smishing, phishing, malware attacks, or any other forms of exploitation; cybercrimes are causing harm on a large scale.
Taking a comprehensive look at internet infringement cases targeting citizens, it is not difficult to observe that inadequate protection of personal privacy stands as the foremost significant factor. Cyber privacy serves as the bedrock for ensuring cyber safety in today's interconnected world. By safeguarding personal information and sensitive data, cyber privacy acts as the first line of defense against malicious actors and cyber threats. Without strong cyber privacy measures and awareness in place, individuals become vulnerable to cybercrimes, compromising their safety, financial well-being, and overall digital experience.
Therefore, our regulators, authorities and of course industry leaders should work together to develop and discuss practical solutions to protect people's privacy properly. It should not be a one-party job. Fortunately, we have been seeing a series of new regulations from the government and new features from tech companies aiming for better privacy protection.
A good tech solution for cyber privacy protection has to have three traits: convenience, seamlessness and flexibility. And imo's Privacy Chat could be a good one to illustrate all three. For convenience, with just a simple swipe on a chat, users can effortlessly enable or disable this feature. There's no barrier forbidding them to leverage tech for privacy protection. For seamlessness, it safeguards not only messages but also images, going above and beyond by incorporating the Time Machine functionality. Users have the ability to remove selected chat history, allowing them to maintain control over their personal information and ensuring that no trace of past conversations remains. For flexibility, it offers users a high degree of autonomy and control over their privacy preferences. They can customize protection measures according to different dimensions and levels of security, empowering them to shape their own privacy landscape. From blocking screenshots during video calls to preventing unauthorized copying, sharing, and downloading, users have the freedom to tailor their privacy settings to suit their unique needs.
As the country is on the path to achieving the 'Smart Bangladesh' vision, better cyber privacy solutions will fasten its pace. As mentioned earlier, relying solely on self-regulation within the technology industry is insufficient. No matter how advanced the technology is, it cannot be effective without people's proper usage. Even the best technology can be exploited by malicious individuals, causing harm to society as a whole. Technology is just one component of a comprehensive solution. As modern Bangladeshis who use the internet daily, we need to ask ourselves honestly: Do we truly understand how to protect our privacy? Have we utilized the features provided by technology companies when necessary? Are we willing to wield the weapons of the law when our privacy is violated, supported by the legal protections of our country? If the technological solution is the first step toward creating a safe online environment, what are the second and third steps? On the journey toward Smart Bangladesh, let us continue to reflect, discuss, and put our thoughts into practice.
The writer is Founder & Chairman, CTO Forum Bangladesh