Cybersecurity Experts Call The Importance Of Independent Protocols To Avoid Internet Crime

Indonesian cybersecurity expert Ahmad Faizun/ Photo: Doc. IST

JAKARTA Hundreds of millions of traffic anomalies or cyber attacks on Indonesia throughout 2023 are seen as a strong signal of the importance of the existence of an independent and closed internet to protect networks and the public from internet criminals.

Indonesian cybersecurity expert Ahmad Faizun encouraged the government to adopt the way Russia and China created internet independence to anticipate various issues related to cyber.

Faizun believes that the government should be able to start designing and implementing independent internet protocols that apply to businesses and government officials in Indonesia to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data sent via the internet.

The government can start from scratch or modify and improve available safe independent protocols such as TLS, IPSec, SSH, PGP, TOR. The secure independent protocol emphasized by Faizun is essential to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data sent via the internet.

They are used by various organizations, including businesses, governments, and individuals. By using safe independent protocols, internet users in Indonesia can help protect their online privacy and security. We must start immediately, before we become too wide open and easily target global attackers, whether private hackers or foreign government agencies," said Faizun, in a written statement received by VOI, Tuesday night, November 21.

He said that independent internet in the financial industry can begin to be realized with the support of biometric technology which is currently widely used in Indonesia. The government can adopt the Zero Trust framework in online transactions.

By using e-KTP which is connected to Dukcapil or other agencies, activities carried out using the internet can be verified. Activities that use the internet can also be known by limiting activities based on needs.

This technology called eKYC, said Faizun, can be purchased by the financial industry and then combined with safe independent internet technology developed by Indonesians for Indonesians. He believes that this method will increase the confidence of online banking transactions, as well as protect the most profitable industries from attacks by ransomware practitioners, national banks for example.

Not only the financial industry, in the future Faizun said, military and government institutions must be able to protect themselves from foreign attacks and their citizens.

From our point of view, protecting the gates of the Indonesian government will be cheaper than protecting millions of Indonesian internet assets that have access to the global internet. In addition, our telecommunications industry has a budget to provide internet access for Indonesian people throughout the country, why not make it safe and independent from the start? " said Faizun.

Sandiman Madya, Directorate of Cyber and Sandi Security Governance Policy, National Cyber and Crypto Agency (BSSN) Nur Achmadi Salmawan in an online discussion held in mid-November 2023 revealed that 361 million cyber attacks occurred in Indonesia so far this year.

Based on data from the National Security Operations Center or NSOC at BSSN, the top three types of traffic anomalies, respective malware activities amounted to 42.79 percent, trojan activity 35.40 percent and information leak 9.35 percent. Cyber attacks on the financial sector are dominated by malware and trojan activity.

Meanwhile, on a different occasion, Ariandi Putra, spokesperson for BSSN said as many as 207 alleged data leak incidents were detected in Indonesia throughout 2023. Of that number, government administration is the highest target with a figure of 55 percent.

Responding to this, Faizun reminded that strong internet protection can save many businesses and individuals in Indonesia from any attacks, especially attacks on personal data and business data transactions.

The government, continued Faizun, can learn how developed countries, such as China and Russia, are in protecting the interests of the population regarding data and business in their country.