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ASEAN countries 'not ready' for cyberattacks
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Last Friday, the check-in system for three international flights at Terminal 3 of Soekarno-Hatta airport experienced technical problems. (Shutterstock/File)
T
echnical issues at two major airports in Southeast Asia have shown that ASEAN’s member states are woefully unprepared for cyberattacks, experts have said.
Indonesia’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur International Airport experienced last week major disruptions that served as a wake-up call for member countries to have precautionary measures in place to prevent such incidents from occurring again.
Last Friday, the check-in system for three international flights at Terminal 3 of Soekarno-Hatta airport experienced technical problems.
Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur airport experienced various network failures that affected its flight information display system, check-in counters, baggage handling system, Wi-Fi connection and credit card systems at retail and food and beverage stores, Bernama reported.
Preliminary findings by Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhad indicated that the disruptions were due to network equipment failure, The Star reported, citing a statement from Malaysia’s National Cyber Security Agency on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Indonesia's National Cyber and Encryption Agency (BSSN) is reportedly planning to establish a crisis management center that would make quick and simultaneous decisions related to potential cybersecurity threats or other disruptions.
A researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Fitriani, said that while the incidents at Kuala Lumpur airport did not necessarily constitute a cyberattack, ASEAN countries had experienced actual cyberattacks in the past, most notably in 2016 when a group of hackers, allegedly from China, attacked the website of Vietnam Airlines and leaked client information and posted derogatory messages targeted at Vietnam and the Philippines.
