JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s national data center has been compromised by a hacking group demanding an $8 million ransom that the government will not pay, authorities said Monday.
The cyber attack has disrupted the services of more than 200 government agencies at both national and regional levels since June 20, said Samuel Abrijani Pangerapan, director general of informatics applications at the Ministry of Communications and Informatics.
Some government services have returned — immigration services at airports and elsewhere are now functional — but efforts to restore other services, such as investment permits, continue, Pangerapan told reporters.
The attackers took data hostage and offered a key for access in exchange for the $8 million ransom, said Herlan Wijanarko, director of network and IT solutions at PT Telkom Indonesia, without giving further details.
Wijanarko said the company, working with authorities at home and abroad, is investigating and trying to break the encryption that made data inaccessible.
Minister of Communications and Informatics Budi Arie Setiadi told journalists that the government will not pay the ransom.
“We have been doing our best to carry out recovery while the (National Cyber and Crypto Agency) is currently conducting forensic investigations,” Setiadi added.
The head of that agency, Hinsa Siburian, said they had detected samples of the Lockbit 3.0 ransomware.
