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Creating an '€˜embryonic'€™ cyber defense force

From crack to hack: The Defense Ministry said it would keep a close eye on the contest’s winners, although they would not be directly recruited into its Cyber Operations Center (COC) hacker squad

Novia D. Rulistia (The Jakarta Post)
Sun, May 25, 2014

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Creating an '€˜embryonic'€™ cyber defense force From crack to hack: The Defense Ministry said it would keep a close eye on the contest’s winners, although they would not be directly recruited into its Cyber Operations Center (COC) hacker squad. (Reuters) (COC) hacker squad. (Reuters)

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span class="inline inline-none">From crack to hack: The Defense Ministry said it would keep a close eye on the contest'€™s winners, although they would not be directly recruited into its Cyber Operations Center (COC) hacker squad. (Reuters)

Many other nations already have their own armies of tame hackers. The United States has its US Cyber Command, China maintains its so-called Blue Army and the Israelis operate under the flag of Unit 8200.

In Indonesia, the Defense Ministry has started to develop its own cyber defense force under the less-than-exciting name of the Cyber Operations Center (COC).

Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro traces the development of the unit to the end of the Cold War and the Sept. 11 attacks in the US, when all nations faced non-traditional threats such as terrorism and attack by weapons of mass destruction.

Threats to ever more complex and interconnected computer networks also emerged, the minister said.

'€œCyber threats can be asymmetrical, where conflicts take place between one nation, whose cyber unit is developing, and another nation'€™s, whose is already very advanced,'€ Purnomo said. '€œTo anticipate this, we are now strengthening the defense force by developing our own cyber defense'€.

The center is located at the Defense Ministry'€™s headquarters in Pondok Labu, South Jakarta. It operates as part of the ministry'€™s data and information unit.

'€œThe COC will be at the frontlines, Purnomo said. The system will be connected to the TNI [Indonesian Army] and individual cyber units in the Army, Navy, Air Force and the ministry.

The center is divided into teams that had specific tasks such as intrusion prevention, threat analysis, hacker monitoring, recovery and attack.

'€œFrom the center, we now know the kind of attacks that occur every day in Indonesia. We analyze the situation and developments, and I get the reports on which cyber attack that needs to be watched carefully and what we should do about it,'€ Purnomo said.

However, he said the COC was still a new initiative that needed work to develop. '€œWe only have around four to five skilled operators in each division, still far from the ideal 20.'€

Army Brig. Gen. Jumadi said that the unit was operationally ready, although embryonic, according to a statement.

Apart from finding and training patriotic hackers, Purnomo said that Indonesia needed it own satellite system to avoid security breaches.

'€œWe'€™re also planning to have our own satellite to be able to better protect our communications system. We already have a satellite system, but it'€™s a shared one, making it prone to hacking or cracking by other parties,'€ he said.

Such a satellite could be used by other ministries and institutions, including the Information and Technology Ministry and the National Intelligence Agency (BIN).

Talks were underway under the aegis of the Office of the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister.

'€œWe hope the talk can keep going even when the Cabinet has changed,'€ Purnomo said.

Deputy Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin previously issued instructions that would boost server security at the Defense Ministry and TNI headquarters by October to bring the COC online faster.

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