DHAKA, Sept 4, 2023 (BSS) - Women Members of Parliament (MPs) and ICT experts today underscored the need for creating awareness on cyber security among the people and enhancement of skills of those who are involved in ICT related tasks for ensuring smooth and uninterrupted journey towards Smart Bangladesh.

Many cyber attacks are taking place mainly due to lack of awareness of the people and lack of skills of those who are involved in ICT related tasks, they said at the inaugural session of the two-day training programme on `Smart Bangladesh and Cyber security' organized by the World Bank financed Enhancing Digital Government and Economy (EDGE) Project of Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) under ICT Division.

The programme was held at the Smart Leadership Academy (SLA) at Mirpur Youth Tower for giving the women Members of Parliament (MPs) idea about the government's plans on implementing Smart Bangladesh and various initiatives about protecting cyber security.

The women MPs, including Afroza Haq, Tamanna Nusrat Bubli, Advocate Zakia Tabassum Zui, Lutfunnesa Khan, ICT Secretary Md Shamsul Arefin, Executive Director of BCC, EDGE Project Nahid Sultana Mallik spoke at the function.

Afroza Haq expressed concern about the proliferation of hateful contents generated by notorious individuals using artificial intelligent (AI), which specially targets women and disseminated toxicity, adversely affecting the lives of women. Tragically, this has even led to cases where women have resorted to suicide as a result, she added.

Afroza emphasized the urgent need to make AI policy and launch a comprehensive awareness campaign on cyber security to protect women as well as educate the public about the growing cyber attacks and crimes. "The implementation of Smart Bangladesh will be hampered if we fail to mitigate cyber threats," she added.

Calling upon the relevant authorities to take action against the unregistered online media, Tamanna said such media outlets are spreading venom in the society by publishing false and fabricated news. Sometimes news was published to assassinate character, she added.

Shamsul Arefin stated that the government has initiated several programmes, including enhancement of government employees' skills and a robust awareness campaign on cyber security. These initiatives have been undertaken with the goal of enabling smooth and uninterrupted transformational journey toward a Smart Bangladesh, he added.

He said that these initiatives have been implemented with the goal of enabling a smooth and uninterrupted transformational journey toward a Smart Bangladesh.

Ranjit Kumar stressed that MPs could play a pivotal role in raising awareness about cyber security among the people. Their influential voices can significantly impact public perception and understanding, as people are more inclined to listen to and trust their elected representatives, he observed.

Earlier, Awareness and Campaign Specialist of EDGE Project Hasan Md. Benaul Islam gave a power presentation on Smart Bangladesh and Rubayet Bin Modasser on Social Media Awareness and Social Engineering Techniques at the function.