Dhaka to introduce digital signature

Bangladesh is set to introduce electronic signature, which is a key feature for e-procurement, e-governance, e-commerce and other digital activities, said officials in Dhaka yesterday.
“Electronic signature is ready for introduction and it will ensure the total security of electronic information,” Controller of the Certifying Authorities Mohamed Zahangir Alam said.
He said the electronic signature would uplift the image of country’s ICT sector across the world.
After the introduction of electronic signature, e-procurement, e-commerce, e-transaction, online income-tax return, online application for any kind of services and digital communication between government offices and NGOs will be facilitated, said Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) assistant programmer Hasan-Uj-Jaman.
He said, it will also ensure Secure Socket Layer (SSL) based security to different kinds of servers such as web and mail and help to introduce paperless office and e-filing, and signing to electronic document and e-mail.
Hasan said the electronic certificate would be provided through a highly secure device, which would require a personal password for any kind of information transmission.
Zahangir Alam, however, said the Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA) will issue electronic certificate through its appointed Certifying Authority (CA).  In this regard, the CCA has already appointed six CAs for this job, of which two have completed their root key generation, said Alam.
The six CAs are: Mango Teleservices, Flora Telecom, Data Age Ltd., Computer Services Ltd., Bangla Phone and Dohatech New Media.
The CCA also appointed two auditors — Right Time Limited and SNA Consultancy Services — to conduct technical audit to the CAs to oversee their abilities as per the guideline.
Two CAs — Mango Teleservices and Data Age Ltd — have successfully overcome the technical audit conducted by the CCA auditors and completed root key generation on 09 and 10 May.
Besides, audit of the other four CAs is underway and the process would be completed soon.
The Bangladesh government started the project to “introduce digital signature in the country and set up the office of Controller of Certifying Authorities” in 2009 through the revision of ICT act- 2006.
Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) with assistance of IFC has set up a “Strong Room”, a special security infrastructure that will ensure database security at the BCC headquarters.
 

By Mizan Rahman/Dhaka
 

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