The National Data Center (PDN) Server has been disrupted since Thursday, June 20, 2024, due to a cyber attack in the form of ransomware. Researchers in the field of software Engineering Faculty of UGM, Prof. Dr. Ir. Ridi Ferdiana, S.T., M.T., revealed that this incident is very unfortunate because PDN has a set of assets that are very important for the people of Indonesia with a variety of data needed by agencies and communities.
Ridi said for PDN this is a ‘bitter pill’ and also as a self-reflection to improve the architecture of information systems, security procedures, and also computer security networks. “For the community, it will certainly reduce the level of trust, especially when putting personal data to PDN,” he explained, Friday (28/6).
Ridi conveyed several cyber security measures that can be taken to keep PDN servers from being exposed to cyber attacks again, including arranging routine inspection procedures related to security gaps, implementing network security procedures for the community and PDN managers. “This includes regular maintenance to review the security perimeter, compliance procedures, and update information systems,” he said.
But no less important according to Ridi, PDN should start implementing the pillars of the well-engineered framework thoroughly by working with Cloud practitioners, to ensure their infrastructure is more robust and reliable. “PDN can design cloud infrastructure with high availability based on disaster recovery plans so that recovery will run smoothly,” he added.
In addition, Ridi also advised PDN to apply encryption at the level of row field security or files either in transit or at rest, so that even in the event of ransomware the stolen data cannot be read.
Even so, he added, an active role is needed by the government in this matter, where the government must establish and implement data center security regulatory standards that adopt existing cloud-based data center standards. ” As a result of this attack we must be aware, especially data center owners, the implementation of Zero Trust Policy or no trust network policy in the organization’s network needs to be immediately applied to important data accesses, ” he concluded.
As is known, PDN cyber attacks by Ransomware which is software that actively blocks access and content of data to data owners. The implication is that the data owner cannot access his own data. The ransomware spreader asks for a certain amount of money so that access and the contents of the data are repaired again through a data unlock key. Ransomware is a type of malware that enters through the internet network and locks important files using encryption held by the perpetrator.