Aryo Putranto Saptohutomo, Jakarta – The government has been advised to involve professional people in managing digital services and cyber security in Indonesia so that it is effective and efficient in making and adopting policies.
This was conveyed by cyber security expert Alfons Tanujaya in response to the Ransomware cyber attack on the temporary National Data Center (PDN). The attack caused data at a number of ministries and government institutions down to the local government level to become inaccessible as it had been encrypted by hackers.
According to Tanujaya, in order to address the problem the government should prioritise the placement of people who have ability and understand the digital world and cyber security in ministries or institutions.
He believes this needs to be done so that the direction of policies related to the digital world are on target to ensure the success of the government's digitalisation agenda.
"So for critical sectors it's indeed better for them to be filled by professionals, so that the institution can carry out its functions optimally and provide maximum benefits for society", Tanujaya said when contacted by Kompas.com on Tuesday June 25.
Tanujaya believes that public criticism over the National Cyber and Encryption Agency (BSSN) being headed by a person with a military background, and Communication and Information Technology Minister (Menkominfo) Budi Arie Setiadi, the head of a volunteer group supporting the Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's presidency, cannot be disregarded by the government.
Because in managing Indonesia's cyber world, said Tanujaya, people are needed with an information technology background rather than prioritising political affairs.
Tanujaya hopes that the role of elements from the National Crypto Institute (Lemsaneg), which has been merged with the BSSN, can be optimised so that Indonesia is ready to face the kinds of cyber attacks that occurred at the temporary PDN.
"For the BSSN, inside of this is Lemsaneg, it is expected to be able to optimise its expertise there because encryption is the main key to securing data in this digital age", Tanujaya said.
Setiadi was reported earlier as saying the perpetrators of the cyber attacks on the National Data Center requested a ransom of $US 8 million if the government wanted to open the encryption of the infected data system.
"Earlier the National Cyber and Encryption Agency held a press conference at the Ministry of Communication and Information. I left because I had to come here. This was a Lockbit 3.0 virus attack". Setiadi said at the Presidential Palace complex in Jakarta on Monday June 24.
The temporary PDN system experienced a disruption causing immigration services at a number of airports, including the Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Jakarta, to be affected as of Thursday June 20.
The director general of Immigration, Silmy Karim, said the application system has now returned to normal.
The immigration system had been impacted upon by the PDN disruption since Thursday. Karim said the digital system had been restored and had been operating since Saturday evening, June 22.
PDN was also in the public spotlight in a case of the alleged leakage when data from 34 million Indonesian passports was traded on online in 2023.
[Abridged translation by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Belajar dari "Ransomware" PDN, Pakar: Sektor Kritikal Baiknya Diisi Profesional".]
