IO, Jakarta – The advancement of information technology cannot be separated from the issues of cybersecurity, an issue at the forefront of nations around the world. According to data from a 2018 APJII survey, out of the 246 million people living in Indonesia, 171.17 million or 64.8% are already connected to the internet. Based on data from the National Cyber Security Operations Center (PUSOPSKAMSINAS) of the Country Cyber and Code Body (BSSN), 232,401,725 cyber-attacks were reported in 2018, a 13% increase over the year before.
In response, BSSN, which is in charge of national cybersecurity, has assumed responsibility for creating a strategic cyber environment and implementing electronic systems that are safe, reliable, trustworthy and can maintain information security. Understandably, over the last decade, the development of e-government services in all government agencies, both central and regional, has been rapidly expanding.
The cyber-attack reporting management system has recorded an increase of 140 reports as of June 2019, compared to 55 reports in 2018. This is an indicator that the BSSN must strengthen government cybersecurity. As a result, the BSSN has launched the “Government Cyber Security Incident Response Team” or Gov-CSIRT, to deal with cybersecurity-related issues.
Gov-CSIRT Indonesia will build, coordinate, elaborate, and actualize a mitigation, crisis management, countermeasure and recovery system for cyber incidents affecting government organs. The team will also be in charge of developing working relationships for countermeasures and recovery of cybersecurity incidents to building competence in the government cybersecurity workforce.
Constituents of Gov-CSIRT Indonesia include the central government alongside all regional governments and will provide services covering management aspects of cybersecurity incidents, including incident triage, incident coordination, and incident resolution. Further, Gov-CSIRT services will implement proactive activities in the form of cybersecurity drill tests, workshops and technical guidance, and assistance in the formation of government-sector CSIRTs.
The launching of Gov-CSIRT will simultaneously see the socialization of services and information alongside synchronization of views regarding the implementation of countermeasures and recovery of data in government agencies. There will also be a showing of the results of a government vulnerability assessment.
BSSN Head Lieutenant General (retired) Hinsa Siburian stated that this was one BSSN step in realizing President Joko Widodo’s mandate to make BSSN a world-class cybersecurity agency. As a result, in building the national cybersecurity, BSSN invites all stakeholders, whether in the public or private sector, alongside academicians, to actively participate, collaborate, and synergize to champion cybersecurity in Indonesia. (rei)