The National Data Centre (NDC) of Bangladesh, operated by the Bangladesh Data Centre Company Ltd (BDCCL), is currently grappling with storage issues caused by the use of unlicensed or pirated software supplied by China, according to a report by Bangladesh Live News. China has faced criticism in the past for providing sub-standard and faulty equipment to neighbouring countries, and now the failure of the Chinese-assisted National Data Centre has emerged as a concern in Bangladesh.
The utilisation of pirated software has led to several problems, including damage to the firewall, the inability to update software and hardware fixes, and a significant loss in storage capacity, which was previously estimated to be 2.1 Petabyte.
In response to the situation, ZTE has offered to reconstruct the NDC using its cloud service. However, this solution may come at a considerable cost, as reported by Bangladesh Live News. Meanwhile, the NDC is experiencing delays in providing full services until the issues are resolved.
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It is not uncommon for Chinese companies to follow a strategy of initially installing flawed infrastructure and later demanding exorbitant charges to rectify the problems and restore the system's functionality.
In light of the NDC's storage capacity being exhausted due to the data center's failure, the Bangladeshi government is actively seeking alternative data storage solutions for storing government data. The US-based Oracle Cloud has already recommended providing cloud services located within the country's sovereign territory. Concurrently, discussions are underway with a few UK-based companies.
China's reputation regarding the security of personal data suffered a severe blow when the express delivery industry in China experienced a wave of cybercrime from February 12-15, 2023, resulting in the exposure of 4.5 billion customers' private information.
Anheng Information Co Ltd, one of China's leading network security companies, disclosed that a ChatGPT or automated query robot had inadvertently exposed 4.5 billion pieces of personal data in China, specifically related to the e-commerce and express logistics industry.
The incident at Bangladesh's National Data Centre underscores the need for enhanced data security measures and the importance of utilising licensed software to mitigate potential risks associated with compromised infrastructure.
