Cyber Crime Attempts in Indonesia Surge during Coronavirus Pandemic

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – With booming internet use in Indonesia during the coronavirus pandemic, cybercrimes in the country have skyrocketed along with the upward trend.

The National Cyber and Encryption Agency (BSSN) found that during in January-August 2020, there were 190 million cybercrime attempts in Indonesia.

This is four times higher than in the same period last year at 39 million attempts.

Hackers were most active in August during which BSSN recorded nearly 63 million tries, a significant surge from the 5 million recorded in the same period last year.

Read also: Interpol Reports Skyrocketing Cybercrime Attacks during Pandemic

Sigit Kurniawan, Head of Sub Directorate Vulnerability Identification and Risk Measurement for BSSN, said the correlation between the rise in digital crimes and lifestyle changes in society resulting from the pandemic.

The uptick in internet use in Indonesia coupled with a boom in online transactions fueled the country’s digital crime rate.

“During the pandemic, everyone is constantly conducting digital transactions. The more digital transactions there are, the higher the number of criminals.”

Data from Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Information Technology concurred that internet use in Indonesia during the pandemic has risen nearly 40 percent.

Read also: Nearly Three in Every Four Indonesians are Internet Users