A devastating cyberattack has struck Indonesia’s national data centre, crippling hundreds of government offices and causing long queues at the country’s main airport. The attack, which was carried out using LockBit software developed by a Russian ransomware outfit, has resulted in a $8 million ransom demand from the dark web hacker responsible.
According to officials, the attack affected 210 institutions at the national and local levels, with immigration services at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport being severely disrupted. The airport’s systems went down, leading to lengthy queues at immigration gates last week.
The attack was perpetrated using Brain Cipher, a ransomware program that encrypts files and data, making them inaccessible. Authorities are still investigating the incident and working to restore affected services.
LockBit, known for targeting governments, major companies, schools and hospitals, has been responsible for billions of dollars in damage and tens of millions in ransoms from victims worldwide. The group’s leader was sanctioned by the US, UK and Australia last month for extorting billions of dollars from thousands of victims.
Indonesia has a history of poor cybersecurity, with limited online literacy and frequent data breaches. In 2021, researchers discovered that the data of 1.3 million users of a government test-and-trace app had been compromised, while over 200 million participants of the National Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) had their data allegedly leaked by hackers.
The Indonesian government is working to restore affected services and prevent future attacks. In the meantime, officials are urging citizens to be vigilant and take steps to protect themselves against online threats.
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