Brain Cipher, the group responsible for hacking Indonesia’s temporary National Data Center (PDNS) and disrupting services in the country, has reportedly apologized for its actions and released an encryption key to the government.
This key came in the form of a 54KB ESXi file. Its effectiveness has not yet been confirmed.
“Citizens of Indonesia, we apologize for the fact that this has affected everyone,” the team wrote in a statement. statement shared by Stealth Mole, a Singapore-based intelligence organization specializing in the dark web.
In its statement, Brain Cipher clarified that it released the decryptor on its own, without the intervention of law enforcement or other agencies. It did, however, ask for the public’s gratitude for its magnanimous behavior — and even provided an account where it could receive donations. Good luck with that.
The team also provided a motive: it was acting as a kind of penetration tester and negotiations with the government had reached an impasse.
Cybercriminals had demanded a ransom of 131 billion rupiah ($8 million) to release the data they hacked on June 20, but the Indonesian government refused to pay.
“We hope our attack has made you understand how important it is to finance the industry and recruit qualified specialists,” the hackers explained.
“In this case, the attack was so easy that it took us very little time to offload the data and encrypt several thousand terabytes of information,” the group said. boasted.
The statement concludes: “We do not bargain.”
We asked Stealth Mole to provide us with proof of the authenticity of the statement.
Brain Cipher clarified that while the Indonesian government could recover its data for free, not all victims would receive the same treatment.
“Honestly, this is very embarrassing for Kominfo and also for us as Indonesian citizens,” shared a cybersecurity influencer in Indonesian.
“Imagine, with a budget of Rp700 billion to secure Indonesian data, you (BSSN et al) only rely on a security system with Windows Defender,” he added.
A degree of panic has rocked the government, especially since it was discovered that backups were optional for affected agencies. Indonesian President Joko Widodo then ordered an audit of government data centers.
Politicians and the public alike seem to be looking for a scapegoat: a petition demanding the resignation of Communications and Information Technology Minister Budi Arie Setiadi over the issue has garnered more than 18,000 signatures. ®
