Hackers attacked Indonesia's national database affecting more than 40 government agencies

An Indonesian communications ministry official says data from more than 40 government agencies, including the immigration ministry, have been affected by a hack of the country's national database, one of the worst hacks the country has experienced in recent years.

Indonesian Communications Ministry official Usman Kansong said Wednesday that 44 government agencies, including key ministries, had been targeted by hackers. He said data at five agencies, including the Immigration Department and the Ministry of Coordinated Investment, had been restored to normal, authorities were also working to recover data at 39 other agencies, and "we expect data from 18 government agencies to be restored by the end of this month."

On June 24, Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, a senior official in Indonesia's communications ministry, said that hackers had recently breached Indonesia's national data center, affecting 210 agencies at the national and local levels. There have been delays at the capital's main airport and hackers have demanded a ransom of US $8 million (S $10.81 million).

It is reported that the hackers used the "Brain Cipher" software developed by Russian ransomware company LockBit to carry out the cyber attack; The software uses encryption to make government data inaccessible.

Herlan Wijanarko, director of Telkom Indonesia, assured Indonesians Wednesday that their data would be safe. "We've isolated the system in the national data center, so no one can get in, and we've cut off external access."

Telkom operates two main data centers in Indonesia, one in the capital Jakarta and the other in Surabaya. Indonesian government agencies rely on two data centers operated by Telkom to store data. This was an attack on a data center in Surabaya.