Bjorka Hackers Sell Millions of Indonesian’s Election Data Despite Warning From Kominfo

Steel Luiz September 7, 2022

4 1 minute read

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Bjorka Hackers sell data belonging to Indonesian citizens after receiving a warning from the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kominfo). The hackers after receiving the warning called the Ministry stupid regarding the leak of 1.3 billion SIM card data on Indonesian mobile phones.

Bjorka Hackers Sold 105 Million Data

According to an Indonesian media site, Bjorka sold about 105 million election data allegedly belonging to Indonesian citizens. On Wednesday, the data was stolen from the General Election Commission and sold for $5000. The information sold includes National Identity Numbers, and Family Cards containing full name, address, date of birth, gender, and age.

Previously, Komifo confirmed the attack and instructed the hackers not to carry out their plans. However, Bjorka hackers addressed the Ministry as stupid in their reply. They said, “My message to the Indonesian government is, Stop being stupid.” Bjorka hackers wrote in its latest upload on the breached site.

Bjorka is the name of an account on a breached site that sells 1.3 billion SIM card data for Indonesian mobile phones. The data also includes two million samples. According to Kominfo’s interim study, around 15% – 20% of the sample data is valid.

Furthermore, the Ministry is investigating with cellular operators and the Ministry of Home Affairs to find out the source of the data leak. Samuel Abrijani, Kominfo’s Director General of Informatics Applications, emphasized that illegally taking personal data can be criminalized. “If you can don’t attack, Every time data is leaked, people lose out because that’s illegal access. If you want to shame the government, find other ways to do so. Don’t spread people’s data,” he added.

Data leakage is said to violate two things, namely administrative and criminal. According to the Indonesian Personal Data Protection Law, perpetrators of data leakage are threatened with a fine of IDR 70 billion and a sentence of seven years imprisonment. The penalty also applies to those who misuse data.

Meanwhile, there are no details regarding penalties for data managers. Kominfo is still synchronizing and harmonizing the Personal Data Protection Bill.