Heaptalk, Jakarta — Following Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan’s resignation as Director General of Applications and Informatics due to the hacking of the National Data Center (PDN), Minister of Communication and Informatics Budi Arie Setiadi appointed Ismail as Acting Director General of Applications and Informatics.
Ismail, who previously served as Director General of Resources and Postal and Informatics Devices (SDPPI), was appointed Acting Director. This appointment is outlined in the Order of Execution of Duties signed by Budi Arie on July 4, 2024. After being appointed, Ismail emphasized that the PDN case is still ongoing. “The team is still working,” he stated.
Furthermore, Ismail declined to comment on the suspected perpetrator of the PDNS 2 hack, the Brain Cipher ransomware gang, which suddenly appeared publicly and claimed it would provide the decryption key for the hacked data for free.
Kominfo is still making great efforts to restore the national data center, including trying the free encryption key provided by the PDN hackers. “We have tried the key on the specimen we have. It works and can be opened,” revealed Semuel, the former Director General.
Semuel explained that the specimen consists of data retrieved by the Ministry after the ransomware attacked the PDNS 2 system or server. However, he could not confirm whether the encryption key could unlock all the PDNS 2 files that were held hostage. “We don’t know yet (if it can unlock all PDNS 2 files) as the hacker locked many files. For more information, please ask the relevant team; there is a technical team, and there will be a time to explain it in detail,” he concluded.