EC Admits Brief Exposure of Journalists’ Data After Card Application Site Goes Public
There is No Scope for Data Leakage or Hacking: EC
Ahead of the upcoming national parliamentary election and referendum, the Election Commission (EC) introduced an online system for issuing accreditation cards to journalists and observers. Online application was also made mandatory for obtaining vehicle stickers. Under this system, around 14,000 journalists completed their registration.
However, the EC’s designated website was suddenly exposed, resulting in all submitted journalists’ information becoming publicly accessible. The EC later shut down the website.
Following the incident, several media outlets published reports on the data exposure of journalists. The Election Commission has acknowledged the issue, stating that it occurred during the process of taking the website offline.
According to the EC, at around 4:00 pm on Saturday, 31 January, the website pr.ecs.gov.bd became accessible. Anyone logging into the site after that time could immediately see a list of applications submitted by approximately 14,000 journalists displayed on the homepage. Along with the list, options were available to view applicants’ names, National ID numbers, mobile phone numbers, and even open full application details. After a short while, however, the website became inaccessible again.
When asked about the matter, Md. Ruhul Amin Mallik, Director of the Public Relations Wing of the Election Commission Secretariat, told journalists:
“We shut down the journalists’ website last Thursday. However, the card system for observers was still active. Today, we instructed our IT team to close the observer option as well. While they were taking it down, the server was opened. During the few minutes it takes to open and shut down the system, those who tried to access the site were able to enter and see the admin panel. As a result, some people thought the site had been hacked or that data had been leaked. That’s all.”
He further said, “The site is now closed. There is no opportunity for anyone to access it. There is no scope for data leakage or hacking.”
