A top official from Indonesia’s information technology ministry has stepped down after a June cyber attack that led to the shutdown of airport, immigration, and scholarship services, Bloomberg reported.
Semuel Abrijani Pangarepan, director-general for the Communication and Information Technology Ministry’s applications and information, resigned Thursday, saying he was “morally responsible” for the incident.
For weeks, the attack disrupted many government services supported by the Temporary National Data Centre (PDN)-2 in Surabaya, East Java.
Semuel tendered his resignation to Minister Budi Arie Setiadi after serving for eight years in his position.
“I apologize for all the mistakes made and anything I said that caused upset,” he said in a press conference, adding that the incident is technically his responsibility and that he should have resolved it.
According to Asia News Network, the cyberattack was executed through Brain Cipher, an updated version of the LockBit 3.0 ransomware, which is allegedly used for the hit on state-owned sharia lender, Bank Syariah Indonesia in 2023.
The hacker group Brain Cipher held the data at a ransom of $8 million but provided decryption keys to the Indonesian government for free on July 3 to restore the data.
The hackers provided the decryption key through an announcement on the dark web, according to a Singaporean cybersecurity company Stealthmole.
In the statement, Brain Cipher said they attacked the data centre because the data was “easy to unload… and encrypt.”
They also noted that this is the “first and last time a victim will receive keys for free.”
The group said they will wait for the Indonesian government to confirm that the free key works and once confirmation is received, they will permanently delete the data.
Brain Cipher added that they will publish the data if the government claims that it has recovered the data independently or through third parties.
The Indonesian government, however, has not responded to Brain Cipher’s statement, nor did it disclose the process of interaction between the two parties, GovInsider reported.
