Wednesday , June 25 2025
Indonesia

Vast Voter Data Leaks Cast Shadow Over Indonesia’s 2024 Presidential Election

Investigators from Resecurity’s HUNTER (HUMINT) have found that Indonesia is increasingly being targeted by cyber-threat actors who have staged attacks that pose significant long-term risks to the integrity of the country’s elections. These findings coincide with the critical and fast-approaching Indonesian presidential election set to take place in February this year (2024). This contest may have significant implications for the political destiny of the majority Muslim, Southeast Asian (SEA) nation, which is also the third-largest democracy in the world.

Source: Resecurity

The country and its imminent power transition are definitely significant from geopolitical perspective that President Joe Biden and outgoing President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo issued a joint statement in November last year announcing a “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.” Publicized just before the start of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit in San Francisco, this agreement marks an upgrade from the previous and less intimate “Strategic Partnership” the U.S. inked with Indonesia eight years ago during former President Barack Obama’s second term.

WhatsApp banned on all US House of Representatives devices

The U.S. House of Representatives has banned congressional staff from using WhatsApp on government devices due to security concerns, as...
Read More
WhatsApp banned on all US House of Representatives devices

Kaspersky found “SparkKitty” Malware on Google Play, Apple App Store

Kaspersky found a new mobile malware dubbed SparkKitty in Google Play and Apple App Store apps, targeting Android and iOS....
Read More
Kaspersky found “SparkKitty” Malware on Google Play, Apple App Store

OWASP AI Testing Guide Launched to Uncover Vulns in AI Systems

OWASP has released its AI Testing Guide, a framework to help organizations find and fix vulnerabilities specific to AI systems....
Read More
OWASP AI Testing Guide Launched to Uncover Vulns in AI Systems

Axentec Launches Bangladesh’s First Locally Hosted Tier-4 Cloud Platform

In a major milestone for the country’s digital infrastructure, Axentec PLC has officially launched Axentec Cloud, Bangladesh’s first Tier-4 cloud...
Read More
Axentec Launches Bangladesh’s First Locally Hosted Tier-4 Cloud Platform

Hackers Bypass Gmail MFA With App-Specific Password Reuse

A hacking group reportedly linked to Russian government has been discovered using a new phishing method that bypasses two-factor authentication...
Read More
Hackers Bypass Gmail MFA With App-Specific Password Reuse

Russia detects first SuperCard malware attacks via NFC

Russian cybersecurity experts discovered the first local data theft attacks using a modified version of legitimate near field communication (NFC)...
Read More
Russia detects first SuperCard malware attacks via NFC

Income Property Investments exposes 170,000+ Individuals record

Cybersecurity researcher Jeremiah Fowler discovered an unsecured database with 170,360 records belonging to a real estate company. It contained personal...
Read More
Income Property Investments exposes 170,000+ Individuals record

ALERT (CVE: 2023-28771)
Zyxel Firewalls Under Attack via CVE-2023-28771 by 244 IPs

GreyNoise found attempts to exploit CVE-2023-28771, a vulnerability in Zyxel's IKE affecting UDP port 500. The attack centers around CVE-2023-28771,...
Read More
ALERT (CVE: 2023-28771)  Zyxel Firewalls Under Attack via CVE-2023-28771 by 244 IPs

CISA Flags Active Exploits in Apple iOS and TP-Link Routers

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has recently included two high-risk vulnerabilities in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV)...
Read More
CISA Flags Active Exploits in Apple iOS and TP-Link Routers

10K Records Allegedly from Mac Cloud Provider’s Customers Leaked Online

SafetyDetectives’ Cybersecurity Team discovered a public post on a clear web forum in which a threat actor claimed to have...
Read More
10K Records Allegedly from Mac Cloud Provider’s Customers Leaked Online

But as Washington jockeys for influence in Jakarta, so too is Beijing. In October, Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted President Widodo at the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. An official Indonesian government press brief published October 18 of last year issued a joint statement in partnership with Beijing announcing a “Deepening Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Indonesia.”

Source: Resecurity

The SEA nation is thus caught in a familiar tug of war between Eastern and Western superpowers that shaped its controversial political trajectory during the Cold War. Today, Indonesia is at a “critical crossroads for trade and a potential flashpoint for global conflict,” noted the South China Morning Post. Thus, Resecurity is specifically concerned that both foreign and domestic threat actors may exploit the sensitive personally identifying information (PII) of Indonesian voters obtained from various network intrusions to stage targeted information-warfare campaigns during the 2024 Indonesian election and beyond.

One particularly alarming breach tracked by HUNTER analysts led to the leak of 6.8 million voter records related to the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election on the ‘eleakstore,’ and on the Hydra Market cybercriminal forums in the TOR network. This breach not only exposed sensitive data but also served as a precursor to a significantly larger issue targeting the 2024 elections in Indonesia, which is described in further detail in this report.

2024 Indonesian Election Stakes:

According to the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, a think tank, the results of the 2024 Indonesian presidential election may herald a threshold moment in the country’s history that finally unclenches the old authoritarian-era elites’ dynastic grip on power. Thus, CEP believes this election could pave the way for a “new generation of kingmakers.”

An enduring symbol of the country’s pre-democratic old guard, “Indonesia’s leading presidential hopeful” is Prabowo Subianto, “a former special forces general who currently serves as defense minister,” according to Associated Press reporting. Prabowo is also the son-in-law of the late military dictator Suharto, who rose to power during the Cold War, and who ruled Indonesia with an iron fist for 32 years with the covert blessing of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Politically, Prabowo benefits from the endorsement of the iconoclastic and “immensely popular” President Widodo, who rose to power as an outsider, and as Prabowo’s political rival, in the 2014 election. Still, the CEP said many Indonesians still view the defense minister as a relic of the elitist plutocracy that seized power during Suharto’s brutal reign.

It is also noteworthy that President Widodo reportedly “forged a close relationship with Beijing” during his time in office, according to Radio Free Asia. A policy brief authored by think tank Celios in August largely described Prabowo as pro-Beijing. Beyond being a key member of Widodo’s government, which is “closely aligned with China’s interests,” noted Celios, “Prabowo has admiration for China.”

“Witnessing the fact that Prabowo’s positive outlook towards China was conveyed even before he ran for the 2019 Presidential General Election, indicates that his approach to China as President if elected in the 2024 elections, will most likely be in line with Jokowi’s policies in the current era, which have attracted a great deal of investment and projects from China over the last few years,” assessed the Celios policy brief.

In fact, the think tank noted that “intensive foreign involvement in Indonesia’s political landscape in recent years has elevated China to the leading position as Indonesia’s trade and investment partner.” Yet despite the growing ties between the two countries, “negative sentiment towards China continues to increase,” said Celios.

Many Indonesians distrust China due to a “number of issues such as China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea which threatens the sovereignty of Indonesia,” in addition to local concerns about “potential debt traps and environmental damage caused by Chinese companies operating in Indonesia,” according to Celios. The Indonesia-China relationship will thus be a key issue in the 2024 election that Prabowo, who recently made provocative, campaign-minded statements about growing popular disdain for Western values in Indonesia, and the other two leading candidates, pro-Western Anies, and pro-Beijing Ganjar Pranowo, must navigate. Click here to read the full report by Resecurity.

Check Also

Leaked

10K Records Allegedly from Mac Cloud Provider’s Customers Leaked Online

SafetyDetectives’ Cybersecurity Team discovered a public post on a clear web forum in which a …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *