- 16/08/2017
- Category: Commentaries
The article is written by our intern staff, Daniel Pranajaya.
As Indonesia progresses into the digital age, it is always important to assess the risks that come with it. Digitalising the society surely has many benefits. However, without the necessary infrastructure, a single well-placed cyber-attack can potentially paralyse the whole country, hence disrupting political, economic, and social activities. In fact, it has been mentioned during the Experts Meeting on Digital Diplomacy held by Center for Digital Society of Gadjah Mada University, that Indonesia’s capability to refine and retain digital information remains weak, and needs to be improved to cope with the challenges of digitalising society.[i] Digital threat is a reality and one need not look further than the chaos caused by the WannaCry ransomware attack in May 2017.
Wannacry was a ransomware cryptoworm that became the main culprit of a worldwide cyber attack in May 2017. It worked by locking away files from infected computers, thus making them inaccessible to users. The attack was very serious as it affected countries and major companies, disrupting day to day activities. In the UK, the attack paralyzed the National Health Service, forcing hospitals to run emergency services only and putting patients’ lives at risk. Hackers who released the malware demanded payments in form of bitcoins in return for the key to unlocking the files. The most concerning aspect of this ransomware attack is the very fact that it exploited a loophole in the Microsoft Windows Operating Software (OS). Microsoft has already released the updates six months before the attack happened, yet the sheer number of victims in this attack meant that they did not bother to upgrade their OS to fix the loophole. The ransomware spread was finally stopped after a web security researcher accidentally found its ‘kill switch.’
There are several lessons that can be gleaned from the WannaCry attack, but for this commentary, I will focus on two of them: protecting your personal data and building proper countermeasures against cyber threats.
Ensuring the safety of your own personal data will form your first line of defense against any cyber-attack. As our interaction with the digital world increases, it is important to take steps to defend ourselves from potential digital threats. One of the simplest ways to do so is by keeping software that we use daily updated. The WannaCry ransomware’s spread was made possible because updates were not installed on affected computers. Another way is by backing up your important data, be it on an external hard drive or in the ‘cloud.’[ii] Attacks such as WannaCry blocked our access towards the data in our computers. Having an external back up will allow us to recover our data and thus avoid having to pay ransoms that will grant us the key to unlock our computer. It is crucial to note that although the ransom demanded by WannaCry hackers can be relatively low, we do not know the intention of these hackers. They might not even give us the key after paying the ransom but instead demand more. So, it is always better to keep your data backed up and software updated.
The other important lesson to note is on how countries such as Indonesia who are digitalising need to have proper infrastructure to deal with digital threats. The WannaCry attack was stopped when a web security researcher accidentally flipped a ‘kill’ switch. This shows that there must be a security system to safeguard Indonesia’s digitalisation. Recently the government has been making efforts to digitalize some administration processes such as identification cards, passports renewals, and the new healthcare system (BPJS).[iii] If the security of these systems is inadequate, a concerted cyber-attack against them can result in a fatal paralysis of governmental and social activities. As such, it is important to prepare countermeasures should cyber-attack ever happen to ensure that disruption is minimal. The creation of BSSI is a step forward, but more is needed to reinforce the digital security of the nation.[iv],[v]
In conclusion, WannaCry ransomware attack serves as a reminder that digital threat is unpredictable and that steps must be taken to minimize disruptions. On a personal level, this can be done by updating software and keeping backups of important files. On a national level, there must be a body that oversees digital security threat and acts quickly to counter digital attacks that may happen in the future.
Picture: Pixabay
References:
[i] Center for Digital Society, Laporan Rekomendasi Kebijakan, Experts Meeting on Digital Diplomacy (Fakultas Ilmu Sosial dan Ilmu Politik, Universitas Gadjah Mada, May 2017), p. 8.
[ii] Cloud: Web-based storage services.
[iii] BPJS: Badan Penyelenggara Jaminan Sosial
[iv] BSSN : Badan Siber dan Sandi Negara
[v] The Jakarta Post, ‘Regulation Establishing Indonesian Cyber Body Signed’, The Jakarta Post, 2017 [accessed 15 August 2017].
