Thrust on ensuring digital security

Article 19, a UK-based international human rights organisation, in collaboration with DW Akademie, has initiated an online lecture series on media laws, media ethics, and digital rights and safety.

The organisation held its first episode of the online lecture series on Sunday which was joined by Najmul Islam, additional deputy commissioner (ADC) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said a media statement.

The webinar underscored three important issues— importance of cyber security, awareness of extremism and dark web, and the role of the Cyber Crime Investigation Division of DMP.

Participating in the discussion, ADC Najmul Islam said, "With many of our daily activities being switched online due to the pandemic, it has now increasingly become important to be digitally literate and vigilant in understanding digital security measures with the rise of cybercrimes."

"Digital Bangladesh is now a reality. With easy accessibility to information communication technology (ICT), people now can access online platforms, but owing to lack of knowledge about cybersecurity and ethics, it makes many vulnerable to cybercrimes," he said.

As most of the online users are the young population, it's now imperative that digital literacy be incorporated into the secondary level curriculum in the country, he opined.

"The country now has a base of 100 million internet users of which 40 million are the Facebook users. Currently, one Facebook user is being added every 12 seconds," the police officer said, adding that the importance of cybersecurity education for young people is a must in the country.

"With the increased dependence on the digital media, especially in time of the Covid-19 pandemic when work from home and online classes remain in force, there is a need to learn and implement online security measures to ensure the safety of users," Najmul said.

He also said digital media and technologies are now being increasingly used by extremists and terrorists to spread propaganda and draw recruits.

He requested parents to monitor their children's online activity because extremism is not only a threat to individuals or families but also a compromise to the state security.

As cyber activities transcend national boundaries, the youth are more vulnerable to issues of extremism and illegal activities online, ADC Najmul mentioned.

Article 19, as part of its work on protection of freedom of information and online safety, is working with the Cyber Crime unit of DMP. It also looks forward to continuing collaboration in the days to come.