Rudi Lumanto, Head of Governance Division at the Indonesian National Cyber Security Operation Center (BSSN), shared the various challenges Indonesia face in anticipating cyber-attacks and the business potential inherent within.
Q: What is the state of Indonesia鈥檚 security?
A: It鈥檚 challenging. There is more and more of a need for various security measures, not just from the civil security end, but also for cyber security, in which there is already massive potential. What with the President trying to push digital economy forward. We have to ensure that our economy remains unobstructed by security problems. Truly, from all sides, the demand from our security industry will be massive.
Q: What has been the most immediate concern for Indonesia in terms of cyber security?
A: From the monitoring end, the biggest threat has been malware. And in terms of basic defense, the solution is to install antiviruses. But even then, quite recently, even the antiviruses that鈥檚 been installed has issues, has vulnerabilities. So in cyber security, solutions can actually create more problems.
We鈥檙e trying to encourage the local industry to create products that we can promote, that we can eventually use as benchmarks. Most antiviruses are sourced from other countries. As far as I know, Germany doesn鈥檛 make antiviruses. But in terms of end users, there is encryption technology. There is cryptography. And there are German companies that are working in those fields. That鈥檚 what we need. The next step is to intensify our exchange. Because when it comes to quality, Germany has a well-established reputation for that.
Q: What is Indonesia looking for specifically in terms of cyber security?
A: As you already know, Indonesia has the most unicorns in Southeast Asia. These unicorns are accelerating our economic growth. Cyber security functions to maintain that economic growth. We can鈥檛 allow, for example, data leaks or interruptions from external parties that could halt the system. We need to prevent fraud from users that could also potentially disrupt the system. All these issues require solutions.
The government has been encouraging all startups within the digital economy to pay close attention to that. Anything that is a concern should be anticipated. Especially as the number of users increases, and Indonesia alone has massive local users, more protection will be needed. We are in the process of trying to protect personal data. There have already been a lot of cases of private, personal data being leaked. There is already great business potential in that regard.
Q: We have been talking mainly about cyber security. What about the need for physical security?
A: That is still an integral part of Indonesia鈥檚 security demand as a whole. There is already an increasing number of smart cities in Indonesia as city administrations in this country continuously declaring their pursuit towards becoming a smart city. Additionally, take the example of the blackout [On August 4, a massive blackout occurred throughout Java]. That鈥檚 a physical security breach. If our security had been stronger then, the impact would not as been as massive. So there is still a need for solutions in various aspects.