- 01/09/2020
- Category: Commentaries
Yogyakarta, August 28th, 2020 – Entering the final quarter of 2020, the development of the digital world and the internet in Indonesia have raised interesting attention. Given the current pandemic conditions, everyone requires to do more activities online. In this 32nd series of Difussion, Center for Digital Society (CfDS) presents Perdana Karim and Felice Valeria as CfDS researchers to discuss Indonesia’s digital landscape in 2020, especially on the topics of digital literacy and cybersecurity in Indonesia. The event was held through the Google Meet platform, and broadcasted live via YouTube on Friday (28/8).
Digital Literacy in Indonesia: Then, Now, Tomorrow
Perdana Karim, as CfDS’ researcher, opened his presentation by presenting data on the number of internet users in Indonesia, which has reached around 171 million Internet users out of 264 million people in Indonesia. This figure is considered high, but the penetration and distribution of internet users in Indonesia are still uneven. More than half of internet users in Indonesia are on the island of Java (55.21%), which causes unequal internet access between regions. This data certainly has an impact on the quite visible differences in digital literacy levels in Indonesia, coupled with the low quality of information technology and inadequate technological infrastructure, which further exacerbates the existing inequalities.
“Digital literacy can have both good and bad impacts. Good impacts that can be felt include access to various kinds of information faster and easier and making life easier with technological developments such as financial technology, Smart TV, and online transportation services. But on the other hand, the increasingly massive spread of hoaxes and misinformation can also have a harmful impact, where people also have difficulty sifting through correct and wrong information, “said Karim. Another negative effect that also deserves attention is the digital divide. The government’s efforts to deal with unequal internet service access have not been completed, resulting in a gap where some people are completely unable to keep up with existing technological developments.
Therefore, the government must take concrete steps in improving infrastructure and strive for equity in understanding and using online platforms in the community to increase digital literacy. “The assistance provided by NGOs and organizations is only limited to short-term solutions, but in fact, it is the government’s duty to take long-term and sustainable solutions to bring change to Indonesia’s digital development,” Karim concluded.
Indonesia’s Cybersecurity Condition
Felice Valeria as CfDS’ researcher opened her presentation by citing the definition of cybersecurity from Cisco, an attempt or practice to protect systems and programs from digital attacks that aim to retrieve sensitive information and disrupt business processes and other things. Cyber attacks are also classified into 4, namely Phishing, Ransomware, Malware, and Social Engineering, where all these activities are aimed at attacking personal or institutional data for the perpetrator’s benefit.
According to data from Check Point, Indonesia is the third country in the world most potentially threatened by cyber attacks, after the United States and India. In 2018, there have been more than 200 million cyber attacks in Indonesia, where the main target is financial technology services that have millions of personal data of their users. This data is taken and then sold on the dark web for various purposes planned by the perpetrators. It shows that Indonesia is still very prone to falling victim to data theft, and the need for more concrete regulations and better data protection for companies and institutions in Indonesia. “So far, only 3% of the total companies in Indonesia have a capable cyber protection mechanism,” said Felice. Felice also explained that there are four challenges faced by Indonesia in cybersecurity, namely slow downtime, low budget allocation in terms of cyber protection, lack of human resources and experts in cyber protection, and the lack of a legal basis regarding digital security in Indonesia.
Writer: Aldo Rafi P. S.
Editor: Raka Wicaksono
