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‘Hacktivist’ polarizes RI netizens after data breach spree
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Illustration of a cyberattack. (Reuters/Kacper Pempel)
T
he rise of cyberattacks in recent years may have united Indonesians in their push for a robust cybersecurity infrastructure and stronger law to protect their privacy, but a pseudonymous hacker claiming to have launched a data breach spree against the President and his men to make a political statement has polarized them.
"What Bjorka did was not a run-of the-mill hacking,” said data analyst and social media influencer Ismail Fahmi, referring to the said hacker, who claimed to be based in Warsaw. “Hackers usually steal data and then sell them for economic reasons or for showing off their ability, after which they go into hiding. But this time is different.”
It is hard to verify if Bjorka, who got suspended from Twitter twice in the span of three days, is in fact in Poland or whether he is Indonesian. But the hacker has shown a considerable familiarity with Indonesian political affairs, claiming that he deliberately leaked the personal data of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and his ministers because Indonesia had long been “been run arbitrarily and without resistance”.
On Friday, he put 679,180 documents up for sale on the hacking forum Breach Forums, which he claimed contained records of letters and documents sent by and to President Jokowi, including confidential letters from the State Intelligence Agency (BIN).
The State Palace denied this claim, saying no sensitive data had been leaked.
He later exposed the personal data of Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Panjaitan, State-Owned Enterprise Minister Erick Thohir and Information and Communication Minister Johnny G. Plate and threatened to leak confidential data of state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina, upping his ante against the government.
Digital vigilantism
