SAFEnet : Cyber Attacks to Double in Early 2024
Morrissey Technology – The SAFEnet report revealed that digital or cyber attacks in Indonesia experienced an increase in early 2024. The number of digital security incidents during the January-March 2024 period was 61, with details of 13 in January, 20 in February and 27 in March. This record is almost double the number of incidents last year in the same period. In fact, the difference in incident records reached 28 cases between the beginning of 2023 and the beginning of 2024.
“Based on monitoring during the January-March 2024 period, digital incidents and attacks remain widespread,” wrote SAFEnet FOR4D in its monitoring report on digital rights in Indonesia for the first quarter of 2024.
“During those three months, at least 61 digital security incidents occurred. These incidents occurred 13 times in January, 20 times in February, and 27 times in March,” the report continued.
With that note, it can be concluded that the average digital security incident during January-March 2024 was 16.25 incidents per month. This figure is greater than the average for the same period last year, namely 11 incidents per month.
SAFEnet revealed that political motives remain the main suspicion behind the rise in cyber attacks at the beginning of this year. The motive is related to the 2024 election and criticism of the government and the presidential and vice presidential candidates in the 2024 presidential election. The report then gave several examples of cases of cyber attacks that occurred, such as when the Twitter/X account @veenarooth was suspended. The account can no longer be accessed after uploading a statement deemed offensive to one of the candidate pairs on February 16.
A month earlier, former vice presidential candidate number 3 Mahfud MD’s Instagram account was also hacked. The account was hacked on January 16 2024 to display a 12-second video showing Israeli soldiers playing football. Another digital security incident was experienced by UGM Yogyakarta Psychology Professor Koentjoro Soeparno and his colleagues. They experienced digital terror repeatedly after being involved in the Bulaksumur Petition FOR4D and the Campus Sues action on March 16 2024.
“Another incident occurred when Prof. Koentjoro Soeparno, Professor of Psychology at UGM Yogyakarta and several of his colleagues, experienced repeated threats (terror) after being involved in the Bulaksumur Petition and the Campus Suing action on Saturday, March 16 2024,” said the SAFEnet report FOR4D.
“The terror came via WhatsApp (WA) messages and anonymous telephone calls,” he continued.
SAFEnet also discovered digital attacks related to the 2024 elections experienced by the KPU as the institution that organizes the elections. On voting day, the KPU website was inaccessible since morning.
The site was also difficult to access on February 15 2024. The KPU then stated that the agency’s website experienced a digital attack in the form of DDoS FOR4D.
“On the day of voting, the KPU website could not be accessed since morning, but then it could be accessed again,” wrote the SAFEnet report.
“The next day, on February 15 2024, the KPU website could not be accessed again until 16.27 WIB,” the report continued.