Indonesian government hackers apologize, provide key • The Register

Brain Cipher, the group responsible for hacking Indonesia’s Provisional National Data Center (PDNS) and disrupting services in the country, has apparently apologized for its actions and shared its encryption key with the government.

This key was in the form of a 54kb ESXi file. Its effectiveness has not yet been confirmed.

“Citizens of Indonesia, we are sorry for the inconvenience this has caused to everyone,” the band wrote in the letter. statement shared by Singapore-based darknet data analytics company Stealth Mole.

In a statement, Brain Cipher detailed that it was releasing the decryptor of its own free will, without pressure from law enforcement or other agencies. However, it asked for public gratitude for its generous behavior – and even provided an account where donations could be received. Good luck.

The team also provided a motive – that it was acting as a sort of penetration tester and that talks with the government had stalled.

Cybercriminals demanded a ransom of 131 billion rupiah ($8 million) for revealing the data infected on June 20, but the Indonesian government refused to pay.

“We hope that our attack has made you realize how important it is to fund the industry and recruit qualified specialists,” the hackers instructed.

“In this case, the attack was so simple that we were able to unload the data and encrypt several thousand terabytes of information in a very short time,” the group said. he boasted.

The statement ends with the words: “We do not haggle.”

We have contacted Stealth Mole to ask for evidence to confirm the authenticity of this statement.

Brain Cipher explained that while the Indonesian government can recover its data for free, not all victims will be treated the same way.

“To be honest, it is very embarrassing for Kominfo and also for us, the Indonesian citizens,” said one influential Indonesian-speaking cybersecurity expert.

“Imagine that with a budget of 700 billion rupiah to secure Indonesian data, you (BSSN and company) rely only on the Windows Defender security system,” he added.

A degree of panic shook the government—especially since it turned out that backups were optional among the attack agencies. Indonesian President Joko Widodo then ordered an audit of government data centers.

Both politicians and the public are looking for a scapegoat – a petition demanding the resignation of the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Budi Arie Setiadi, has collected over 18,000 signatures. ®