In Indonesia, crippling immigration ransomware breach sparks privacy crisis

Cyberattacks are common in Indonesia, but the latest episode was marked by a rare admission from authorities of system failure

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Immigration officers check passengers’ passports at a ferry terminal on Indonesia’s Bintan Island in May. Photo: AP

Published: 10:00am, 26 Jun 2024Updated: 4:10pm, 26 Jun 2024

In a rare admission, Indonesian authorities revealed that last week’s catastrophic collapse of the country’s immigration system was caused by hackers using new ransomware to attack a critical data centre.

The latest cyberattack, which crippled immigration services for days, has sparked calls for the government to be held accountable, with one expert questioning the safety of citizens’ personal data processed by the state.

The hackers being the attack had issued a US$8 million ransom demand to return control of the servers to the Indonesian government, but communications and informatics minister Budi Arie Setiadi vowed “we will never pay”.

His ministry confirmed that the attacks had disrupted services at 210 state institutions nationwide – though they declined to name the affected organisations.

Ariandi Putra, spokesman for the National Cyber and Crypto Agency, or BSSN, said in a statement on Tuesday that the attack was first detected on June 17 when the agency received a notification about “attempts to shut down Windows Defender” – pre-installed security software that helps identify viruses, spyware, and other malware.

Cyberattacks and massive data breaches are all too common in Indonesia, but critics argue that authorities routinely stay tight-lipped about such breaches in a bid to reassure the public that their personal information is safe.