A cybersecurity expert has called for the reinforcement of the State cybersecurity protecting institution, the National Cyber and Crypto Agency (BSSN), in an effort to tackle the vulnerability of data breaches in Indonesia as can be seen in the country’s low cybersecurity status of level 3 in a scale of 1-10.
Gildas Deograt, Coordinator of the Cybersecurity and Information Forum (Formasi), said BSSN must be at the forefront of and proactively maintaining cybersecurity in Indonesia and should not involve only after a serious incident occurs, but also take the lead in preventive measures.
“We need to encourage BSSN to be more effective and should not only get involved when a big problem has occurred,” Gildas told Indonesia Business Post on the sidelines of the Indonesia Knowledge Forum (IKF) 2024 organized by PT Bank Central Asia in Jakarta on November 12-13, 2024.
Addressing the IKF 2024 Forum, Gildas cited that the vulnerability to data breaches is not only experienced by Indonesia, but has become a global issue, even impacting developed countries.
“If we talk about the Global Security Index, the UK is in the top five. Even so, they are not necessarily completely safe from cyber threats,” he said.
The data leak case at the Surabaya-based Second Provisional National Data Center (PDNS 2) on June 20, 2024 has paralyzed public services at several government offices, including immigration, for several days before they were gradually restored.
According to Gildas, this incident was not entirely the responsibility of BSSN, but rather reflected a broader problem related to the division of responsibilities.
“In Indonesia, many parties want to have authority in cybersecurity, but when an incident occurs, they are reluctant to bear the responsibility,” he said, while citing that in the PDNS 2 case, BSSN’s portion of responsibility was only around 20-30 percent.
He said further that the incident should be a reminder for the government and related sectors to strengthen collaboration and clarify the division of roles in cybersecurity efforts.
“Given the increasing cyber threats, Indonesia is expected to increase the capacity of BSSN and optimize the function of this institution proactively, not only reactively when an incident occurs,” he concluded.
