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Understanding the cyberattacks against anticorruption activists
Coordinated cyberattacks against activists point to a worrying infiltration of their personal lives and safety
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Contested turf: Numerous Indonesian activists had their smartphones hacked last week in a string of cyberattacks. (Unsplash/Courtesy of Shamsudeen Adedokun/Unsplash)
T
ry moderating a heated panel discussion with your phone hacked and ringing off the hook. Now, try doing so without the aid of your colleagues, who also have had their phones hacked, all while fending off Zoom bombers attempting to take over the show. For Nisa Rizkiah, a researcher at Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), it was all in a day’s work.
“We were bombarded from every corner,” she said. “Eventually, my family started calling me in panic and asked me to go home immediately.”
Upon quitting the discussion early and rushing home, she found a chaotic scene. Dozens of motorcycle taxi drivers, some carrying mountains of food, were lingering on her front porch. They had received orders for food, taxis and motorcycle taxis in her name and had arrived either to pick her up or receive their payment.
“When I checked my phone, I found that I couldn’t access the account of my [taxi and delivery service] app,” Nisa recalled. “I even received a notification saying that the password for my e-commerce account had been changed. Luckily, I took out my credit card information before orders started coming to my house again.”
Nisa’s bizarre day of May 17 was part of a wave of attacks against leading Indonesian anticorruption activists. Notable members of ICW and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) reported instances of repeated online intimidation from unknown parties who had hacked into their WhatsApp, Telegram or email accounts.
These attacks didn’t come out of the blue. Many see the timing of this wave as an indication of foul play.
