Commander Of The Pussansiad Brigadier General Iroth Sonny: Strengthening The Cyber Capabilities Of The Indonesian Army Is Urgent

The Commander of the TNI AD (Pussansiad) Cyber and Password Center Brigadier General Iroth Sonny Edhie answered questions from a number of journalists after opening the 2021 Pussansiad Cyber Exhibition in Jakarta, Wednesday (11/24/2021). ANTARA/Genta Tenri Mawangi

JAKARTA - The Commander of the Army's Cyber and Encryption Center (Pussansiad) Brigadier General Iroth Sonny Edhie, emphasized that strengthening the cyber capabilities of the TNI AD is an urgent need because cyber attacks have a real impact on infrastructure resilience and the lives of soldiers.

"Cyber threats continue to evolve and use artificial intelligence (artificial intelligence, ed). So, every time there is a threat and a response is made, he (hacker, ed) looks for loopholes. Our job is how to secure all these loopholes from potential threats," he said when met in Jakarta, reported by Antara, Wednesday, November 24.

He explained that threats to the cyber world, especially those targeting the Indonesian Army, can be divided into two types, namely physical threats and non-physical threats.

Physical threats, he explained, attack the TNI AD's vital infrastructure, while non-physical cyber threats target the mindset of the soldiers and their families.

"Physical attacks can be in the form of malware, viruses, then attacks that are web defacement against (official pages) several TNI AD institutions," explained Iroth.

Meanwhile, non-physical cyber threats include fake news/hoaxes, misinformation, and disinformation.

Fake news that is often circulated through cyberspace aims to create divisions and change the perception of soldiers on certain issues. Therefore, he explained that the Indonesian Army's Cyber and Password Center has launched a program to strengthen cyber power within the Indonesian Army.

“In building Pussansiad's strengthening and capabilities, we always look at how we identify and then define and map threats. From there, we developed a concept, both the concept of operating patterns and strengthening postures," he explained.

Regarding the strengthening of posture, there are three aspects that are of concern to Pussansiad, including the strength or capacity of the Indonesian Army to ward off cyber threats, the professionalism of soldiers with cyber capabilities, and the degree of strength from the central to regional levels.

“Strengthening human resources, processes or regulations, strategies, and strengthening technological aspects, strengthening communications, because (we) cannot stand alone. Therefore, we work with other parties, the Cyber Police (unit), BSSN, academics, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, and other stakeholders," he said.

He conveyed that Pussansiad seeks to strengthen the awareness of soldiers and the public against cyber threats (cyber awareness).

The Indonesian Army's Cyber and Password Center is a unit that was formed approximately 1.5 years ago. The Commander of the Indonesian Armed Forces, General TNI Andika Perkasa, on several occasions said that his party would focus on building the cyber strength of the TNI.

“What the TNI Commander has done has been extraordinarily productive, and Mr Kasad (Chief of Staff of the TNI AD General Dudung Abdurachman, ed.) is very good, because cyber threats are developing, evolving, (the impact, ed.) are real so that strengthening (cyber capabilities) This is an urgency, a necessity that cannot be avoided,” he explained.