Indonesian Government Pressures Private Sector to Implement Better Cybersecurity Measures

After the series of cyberattacks that hit Indonesia, the Government makes steps toward a more secure cyberspace.

Bjorka, the hacker that is behind multiple security breaches, explained in a Tweet the motives behind his actions: the poor data protection policies in Indonesia. This makes the country an easy target for cybercriminals and puts citizens’ private information at risk.

The Twitter account in the name of Bjorka disappeared on Sunday afternoon (11/9). But then, a new account appeared with the name @bjorxanism on Monday (12/9), only to be suspended again by Twitter.

@bjorxanism Take a look at the Batch ID of the public figures that Bjorka leaked, why are they all the same ID? Can you explain?what exactly are they not vaccinated pic.twitter.com/xOj9C8oCF1

— Fer D.Rahmad (@kamfrred) September 12, 2022

The hacker pretends to have leaked sensitive data of government officials and institutions, but an official investigation by the state authorities is still ongoing.

The Government’s Position

Communication and Informatics Minister, Johnny G. Plate, demanded private businesses to upgrade their cybersecurity measures to better protect the population’s data.

“Cyber attacks are also carried out on private electronic service providers (PSE), therefore private PSE operators are asked to really ensure the security of their respective systems because that is an obligation,” said Johnny Plate in a press conference on September 14, according to Tempo.Co.

To tackle this problem, the Indonesian government created a Data Protection Task Force that gathers the National Cyber and Encryption Agency (BSSN), National Intelligence Agency (BIN), the Communication and Informatics Ministry (Kominfo), and the National Police.

“Continue to pay attention and communicate with the government to help if there are suspicions (data breaches). Communicate with the government to get input so that it can maintain the electronic system properly,” added Johnny Plate via Tempo.Co.

How It Got Here

Earlier this year, Bjorka leaked data from a security breach that contains 20GB of information. The leak, sold for $5,000, included personal identifiable information (PII) of 105 million Indonesian citizens, approximately 40% of the country’s population.

These stolen PII are: “national ID card number, full name, registration address, province of residence, age, gender, polling station numbers, and other sensitive information”, according to Cybernews.

This is only one example from the series of attacks that happened in Indonesia only this year.

The Bank of Indonesia, the country’s hospitals, police service, Ministry of Law and Human Rights, and many more have all been hacked in 2022.

Source

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Andreea Chebac

Digital Content Creator

Andreea is a digital content creator within Heimdal® with a great belief in the educational power of content. A literature-born cybersecurity enthusiast (through all those SF novels…), she loves to bring her ONG, cultural, and media background to this job.