Kominfo Reminds Cellular Operators To Re-register SIM Card Numbers

Director General of Informatics Applications, Samuel Abrijani Pangerapan (Tachta Citra Elfira/VOI)

JAKARTA - Following up on the misuse of SIM cards that were used by criminals to break into victims' accounts. The Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kemenkominfo) is preparing a new regulation, which will be discussed with telecommunication operators.

Later there will be a standard operating procedure (SOP) that will accommodate the identity card (e-KTP) with the provider number from the SIM Card. This method is expected to make it difficult for the perpetrators of crime, who often keep changing numbers.

"We have issued a circular to operators to be more careful with SIM card replacement, because if the data is combined with other data it can be very detrimental to us. Later, we will also evaluate the SOP for new SIM card replacement," said the Director. General of Informatics Applications, Samuel Abrijani Pangerapan at the Kominfo Office, Wednesday, January 22.

The man who is familiarly called Sammy also revealed that he would evaluate new SIM Card registration using One Time Password (OTP), as an extra security measure. Besides trying to maximize security features with fingerprints or face recognition, so that they can be matched with user data bases and personal identities.

On the other hand, cases of misuse of SIM cards are also included in the Personal Data Protection Bill (RUU PDP), in which the perpetrator will receive severe penalties and fines of hundreds of millions to billions of rupiah.

"In the PDP Bill, there is indeed a question of ID card falsification, and the punishment is quite severe. Whoever takes over the KTP, whoever takes over the illegal data will also be subject to criminal penalties," concluded Sammy.

In fact, this effort was made during the leadership of the Minister of Communication and Information Rudiantara, by issuing the Minister of Communication and Information Regulation Number 12 of 2016 concerning Registration of Telecommunications Service Customers, which has been amended by Regulation of the Minister of Communication and Information Number 14 of 2017 concerning Amendments to the Regulation of the Minister of Communication and Information Number 12 of 2016 concerning Registration of Service Customers Telecommunication.

The obligation to register cellular subscribers applies to adjust the user's identity data which must match the NIK printed on the electronic Identity Card (KTP – el) and KK so that the validation process to the Dukcapil database can be successful.