Cyberattacker hits Indonesia's data centre, demands $8 million ransom

Jakarta: A cyberattack on Indonesia s national data centre compromised hundreds of government offices and caused long delays at the capital s main air...

Jakarta: A cyberattack on Indonesia's national data centre compromised hundreds of government offices and caused long delays at the capital's main airport, with the hacker demanding an $8 million ransom, officials said Monday.

Long queues formed at immigration gates at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport last week after systems went down in the attack, carried out using software developed by Russian ransomware outfit LockBit, an official from the communications ministry said.

The attack "affected 210 institutions at the national and local levels," senior official Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan told reporters on Monday, adding a dark web hacker had demanded a $8 million ransom.

He added that immigration services were returning to normal on Monday morning and work was being done to restore other affected services.

Authorities are still investigating the ransomware, known as Brain Cipher, which made government data inaccessible due to encryption, he said.