Coordinating Minister For Political, Legal And Security Affairs Ensures Sirekap Data Is Safe Even If You Use Overseas Servers

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Hadi Tjahjanto at the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs building, Tuesday (19/3/2024) (ANTARA/Walda Marison)

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Hadi Tjahjanto ensured that voter data in Sirekap remained safe even though the General Elections Commission (KPU) collaborated with Alibaba Cloud in managing servers.

"Yes, everything is safe. It has been discussed in the (meeting) as well as input from the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), the National Crypto Cyber Agency (BSSN), the National Police Criminal Investigation Agency and the Ministry of Communication and Information," Hadi said at a press conference after holding a closed meeting at his office as reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, March 19.

According to Hadi, his party has planned a series of data security measures related to the number of votes in Sirekap.

His party has also ensured that the data entered into Sirekap remains accurate and accountable.

However, Hadi did not explain in detail what security measures the Criminal Investigation Unit, BSSN and BIN would take.

"There is the Head of BSSN, carrying out security, monitoring from BIN. Everything is according to plan and is still going well," he said.

Telematics expert Roy Suryo suggested that the General Election Commission (KPU) open an agreement with Alibaba Cloud to ensure the protection of public data by the election organizing agency.

This was conveyed in the trial of information disputes with the agenda of hearing the testimony of expert applicant witnesses at the Central Information Commission (KIP), Central Jakarta, Monday, for two of the three lists of information disputes submitted by the Indonesian Constitutional Rights Advocacy Foundation (YAKIN) as the applicant to the KPU as the respondent.

"With Alibaba, it must be opened, what kind of agreement. In that agreement what you want to see can be revealed to the extent of the rights and obligations of both parties," said Roy, Monday (18/3).

It is known, in an application with register number 002/KIP-PSIP/II/2024, the applicant asks for information about the details of the KPU information technology infrastructure related to the 2024 election, including topology, physical servers, cloud servers (cloud storage) and networks, the location of each tool and network, to details of cyber security equipment.

The petitioner also requested details of the Alibaba Cloud service used, including the process of procuring cloud services and contracts between the Indonesian KPU or its representatives with Alibaba Cloud.

Present online as an expert witness, Roy questioned why there was no memorandum of understanding or Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the KPU and Alibaba such as the KPU and the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) regarding cooperation in the use of information and communication technology in order to support the 2024 General Election.

According to him, cloud or cloud computing is a technology that includes the data in it. There is a risk that data can be sucked in or taken by irresponsible parties, so that cooperation details are needed to ensure that both parties carry out their obligations to protect voter data.

If there is an agreement containing a legal umbrella, Roy also suggested that the document can be shown to the applicant.

"Because of the MoU, we can find out whether the KPU is doing its rights and responsibilities to protect the data from hacker attacks," said Roy.

Therefore, the trial assembly proposed a closed examination to see the form of an agreement between the KPU and Alibaba.

"We propose that later there will be a closed examination in the assembly to see what kind of agreement there is and we will see which urgency is opened and which one is closed," said a member of the Arya Sandiyudha trial assembly.

It is known, at the previous trial, the KPU as the respondent asked the trial panel regarding the procurement of the KPU digital system server not to be published.

Expert from KPU Luqman Hakim said in the procurement of the server there was information that could endanger the public. In addition, according to him, the KPU often gets hacking attacks on the system.

"If server information is opened, it will be dangerous for us that without being informed to the public we are already overwhelmed, and that DPT data has been stolen," he said.