Conti Hacker Group Targets Bank Indonesia As Target

Hacker Illustration/Photo: Antara

JAKARTA - The Conti ransomware hacker group, which broke into Bank Indonesia data, is indeed targeting the government and industrial sectors. Kaspersky's general manager for Southeast Asia, Yeo Siang Tiong, in a press release on Friday, January 21, said that during the first 11 months of 2021, the requests for Incident Response (IR), assistance to deal with cyberattacks, were received by the cybersecurity company Kaspersky. for ransomware reached 46.7 percent, up from 37.9 percent in 2020. Ransomware attacks on government and industrial sectors accounted for 50 percent of all incoming IR requests in 2021. In addition to these two sectors, hacker gangs such as Conti are also targeting sectors information technology and finance. Kaspersky said Conti appeared in late 2019 and was active in hacking throughout 2020. Their activities accounted for more than 13 percent of all ransomware victims that year. Conti not only encrypts, but also sends copies of files from hacked systems to ransomware operators. They then threaten to publish the information they stole if victims don't pay a ransom. Kaspersky also says the group is backed by a secret (underground) ecosystem. China says there is no "silver bullet", perfect, solution to cyberattacks including ransomware. Regulations on cyber security and coordination of intelligence agencies can significantly improve a country's cyber defense. Bank Indonesia stated that it was implementing mitigation protocols after the hacking attempt, including developing stricter cyber security standards and policies. Information on BI hacking stems from social media, an upload said Conti included the central bank on their list of victims.