Heaptalk, Jakarta — Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani, conveyed that the Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kominfo) is one of the government institutions with the largest budget among other ministries/institutions, reaching US$299 million (around Rp4.9 trillion) from the State Budget (APBN) per May 2024.
Of the total budget disbursed, the Minister said that USD42.7 million (around Rp700 billion) has been allocated for developing the National Data Center (PDN). Meanwhile, the remaining US$97.6 million, approximately Rp1.6 trillion, is for the operational and maintenance costs of 4G BTS, satellite capacity development worth USD42.7 million (around Rp700 billion), and Palapa Ring operations worth USD67.1 million, equivalent to Rp1.1 trillion.
“The Ministry of Communication and Informatics budget is relatively significant, almost touching USD305 million (around Rp5 trillion). According to our report, the Ministry of Tech has spent around US$299 million, equal to Rp4.9 trillion, till May 2024, devoted to the maintenance and operation of BTS 4G. While the PDN budget attained US$42.7 million, equivalent to Rp700 billion.” Minister Sri Mulyani affirmed this during the APBN KITa Press Conference.
In her further statement, the Finance Minister said that the budget allocation for PDN development has been included in the state budget’s thematic budget in the infrastructure category. It was realized at USD6.8 billion, approximately Rp112.9 trillion, until May 31, 2024.
As is known, the National Data Center experienced a cyberattack using the Lockbit 3.0 type of Brain Cipher Ransomware, which encrypted the critical data of Indonesia’s government. This hacker attack has paralyzed dozens of public services, including immigration in Indonesia, since last Thursday, June 20th, 2024.
Tremendous budget, yet data recovery only 2%
Head of the National Cyber and Crypto Agency (BSSN), Hinsa Siburian, Hinsa Siburian, said that data recovery in PDN Surabaya only reached 2%, around 44 Ministry/Institution data had been recovered.
According to him, the Brain Cipher Ransomware attack was terrible due to the lack of a data backup system in PDN’s cold storage in Batam. Consequently, public services do not have a data backup, which causes all public operations to be paralyzed, specifically when a cyberattack occurs.
In response to the statement of the Head of BSSN, Budi claimed that his party, in collaboration with Telkom and Lintas Artha, has provided data backup facilities at PDN. However, he emphasized that each tenant is given this option, whether eager to utilize or ignore the facility.
“They do not possess data backup due to limited budget and complexity of explaining to finance and auditors. The data backup budget must be covered. Convince auditors that data security is critical, and we must encourage it,” Minister Budi said, as cited in CNBC.
Nevertheless, to overcome the issue, Budi conveyed that the Ministry of Communication and Informatics plans to issue a strategic regulation obliging all Indonesia’s Ministries and Institutions to back up their crucial data, which would be signed on Monday, July 1st, 2024.
“This policy will be mandatory, not optional, as determined before. I will sign the Ministerial Decree no later than Monday next week,” Tech Minister Budi affirmed.
