Heaptalk, Jakarta — Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Kominfo) has investigated the hacker announcement claiming to have stolen 34.9 million Indonesian passport data.
Based on the Ministry’s initial investigation, Kominfo’s Director General Samuel Pangerapan stated that they found several similarities between passport data and hackers’ data.
“Based on the sample, there are similarities, but we can’t say for sure. From the detail, (the data) is predicted was revealed before passport’s valid date regulation is amended into 10 years, it is because the valid date (of the sample) is only 5 years,” stated Samuel in Kominfo’s office (07/07).
He added that the Ministry still investigates what kind of data the hackers have, also when and how the data was stolen. For this purpose, the Ministry will seek clarification and perform data matching with Directorate General for Immigration, Ministry of Law, and Human Rights. Moreover, the Ministry also will cooperate with National Cyber and Crypto Agency (BSSN) to search the main problem that caused data leakage.
As background information, a Twitter account named @secgron or Teguh Aprianto announced has stolen 34.9 million Indonesian passport data and traded it online at USD10,000 on behalf of Bjorka, last week (07/05). The hackers also reportedly provide 1 million pieces of data as a sample which contains passport numbers, names, valid dates, date of birth, and gender.
Prior to this case, Kominfo has recorded 98 allegations against personal data breaches from 2019 to 2023, including 65 Private Electronic System Operator (PSE) cases and 33 Public PSE cases. “For 23 cases, we have delivered sanctions and recommendations. This means the violation was confirmed,” said Samuel.
