Observers Predict 5 Cyber Threats That Lurk Indonesia In 2025

Photo: Illustration of cyberattacks (photo: Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Throughout 2024, Indonesia is haunted by various cyber attacks. However, entering 2025, of course, there will still be many cyber attacks faced by the Indonesian people, especially with increasingly rapid technology.

Chairman of the CISSReC Cyber Security Research Institute, Pratama Persadha predicts five cyber threats that Indonesia may face this new year.

The first threat is a cyberattack that uses AI Agentics, where advanced AI agents are able to plan and act independently to achieve certain goals, will be exploited by threat actors.

"AI agents can automate cyberattacks, reconnaissance, and exploitation, thereby increasing the speed and accuracy of attacks. In addition, AI agents can also break through traditional defenses and increase attack complexity," said Pratama.

In addition, AI-based fraud and social engineering will increase frauds such as "pig trapping" (long-term financial fraud), phishing votes (vishing), and deepfakes that are increasingly difficult to detect.

Furthermore, Pratama predicts that attackers will further use trusted applications to spread ransomware and adapt their technology to remain effective in the future.

"The supply chain attack will also increase, where cybercriminals will target open source ecosystems, exploit code dependencies to disrupt organizations," he added.

But no less important, geopolitical cyber warfare will also escalate as the espionage campaign by actors "Big Four" (Russia, China, Iran, North Korea) is linked to cybercrime, and disinformation will continue to align with geopolitical interests.

"Cyber attacks driven by ideological or political agendas will increase, targeting critical governments, businesses and infrastructure," he said.

To deal with these various threats, Pratama advised the Indonesian government to immediately strengthen protection against digital infrastructure and community data through strategic steps. Establishment of a Personal Data Protection Agency (PDP).

In addition, the government must also strengthen the performance of the National Cyber and Crypto Agency (BSSN) and ensure that BSSN has adequate resources and technology for national critical infrastructure detection, response, and security.