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Govt data privacy efforts ‘lacking’
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The logo of the National Cyber and Encryption Agency (BSSN) appears on the agency’s office in Jakarta on March 15, 2019. The government has set up another task force to combat cybersecurity, leaving critics to question how the BSSN will fit into the new scheme. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
C
ritics are lamenting a “clear lack of understanding” in the state’s latest cybersecurity measures, after a quick response team established to address a recent spate of data leaks played down the sensitivity of the information being circulated.
Following a presidential instruction to address the rampant cyberattacks, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD kicked off the first meeting of the Data Protection Task Force on Wednesday. The group consists of data regulators, law enforcement officers and intelligence officials.
At a press conference following the meeting, Mahfud waved off the recent cyberattacks perpetrated by hackers like Bjorka, who over the past few weeks has claimed to have breached state cybersecurity defenses, compromised billions of pieces of citizens’ personal data and put them up for sale online.
“We will take this seriously and have already started to address the issue at hand. But we also want the public to remain calm because so far there have not been any leaked state secrets,” the minister said, claiming that the recent leaks were nowhere near as dangerous as the top-level Australian espionage attempts on Indonesia from the 2010s exposed by WikiLeaks.
The formation of the task force was the result of a limited Cabinet meeting called by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Monday, where he demanded that his ministers deal with the data leaks of the past month, which had exposed the ease with which state infrastructure could be bypassed.
While there was no official announcement on the matter, the task force consists of representatives from the Communications and Information Ministry, the Home Ministry, the National Police’s cybercrimes division, the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) and the National Cyber and Encryption Agency (BSSN).
Mahfud, the highest-ranking official on the team, did not elaborate on the task force’s scope of authority.
