Indonesia’s national army needs a fourth branch: cyber military

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SEMARANG (ANTARA) – The Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) consists of three branches: the Indonesian Army (TNI AD), the Indonesian Navy (TNI AL) and the Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU). Recently, there has been increasing discussion about the need for a fourth branch: a dedicated cyber military unit.

Andi Widjajanto, former director of the National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas), believes the government must act quickly to implement the idea.

He believes that given that states and non-state entities can now launch attacks on states through cyberspace without deploying conventional warfare equipment, the establishment of cyber military forces has become inevitable.

Highlighting the potential dangers of cyber warfare, Pratama Persada, a cybersecurity expert at the National Intelligence College, warned that attacks launched in cyberspace could cripple the economy of a target country, especially if the country’s banking and financial sectors are targeted.

This unconventional warfare can damage important infrastructure and facilities such as energy, telecommunications, transportation and even state administration. It would be unwise to ignore the possibility of a cyber attack before a conventional attack. A country that is not prepared could become very vulnerable.

Indonesia is not powerless when it comes to cybersecurity. The National Intelligence Agency (BIN), the National Police (Polri), the State Cyber and Cryptography Agency (BSSN), and the Ministry of Communications and Information all play a role.

However, none of these agencies bears the sole responsibility for strengthening Indonesia’s defenses and repelling cyberattacks. Therefore, establishing a cyber unit within the TNI could provide the country with an agency focused on cyber threats.

While the TNI already has a cyber unit, its activities and operations are internal, supporting the military’s core duties.

The need for cyber military power has become more urgent after foreign hackers recently launched cyber attacks that destroyed the systems of the Indonesian National Army’s Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS).

Maj. Gen. Nugraha Gumilar, head of the TNI Information Center, confirmed that the compromised data had been made available to the public earlier this year.

On June 24, a hacker uploaded a screenshot from BreachForums on X, announcing that they had hacked into the BAIS system and data. The screenshot showed the so-called data sample and a full set of quotes.

The hacker claimed to have hacked into Polri’s Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (INAFIS) network two days ago. The criminal claimed to have obtained sensitive data such as fingerprint images, emails and application configurations, and demanded $1,000.

BSSN head Hinsa Siburian downplayed the threat, saying the leaked data was outdated and the INAFIS breach had not disrupted operations.

He also clarified that this incident was not related to a separate ransomware attack on June 20 targeting the Provisional National Data Center (PDNS) 2 in Surabaya, East Java.

The government announced on June 24 that 211 government agencies were affected by the PDNS attack, a number that rose to 282 the next day.

At a parliamentary session on June 27, Minister of Communications and Information Budi Ali Setiadi assured everyone that the cyberattack was carried out by non-state actors and did not result in a data breach.

STIN’s Persadha said the TNI must reform its recruitment system to identify and train the best cyber soldiers. He said the TNI needs personnel who can analyze cyber threats and strengthen its internal systems.

Before establishing a fourth unit, the TNI needs to ensure that existing units have personnel capable of monitoring and conducting cyber BroadCast Unitedligence operations.

Both infrastructure and skilled personnel are crucial to protecting Indonesia from cutting-edge threats. Without them, all efforts will be in vain.

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