Indonesia: China, US, Russia, S. Korea sources of govt hacks

Summary: Communications and information technology minister pinpointed the four nations as destinations from which hacking attacks were carried out against Indonesia's government Web sites.

By Ellyne Phneah | March 11, 2013 -- 08:02 GMT (01:02 PDT)

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indonesia-flag — Hackers from China, Russia, the U.S., and South Korea were looking to steal state information before selling it on, according to an Indonesian minister.

An Indonesian minister has identified four countries as main culprits for attacking the government's Web sites.

According to online news portal Tempo.co's report Monday, Tifatu Sembiring, communications and information technology minister, said hackers who attacked the government's Web sites are from China, Russia, the United States and South Korea.

These hackers were looking for state information and had plans to sell the information on in the future, Tifatu said, but did not elaborate further.

He added that while cyberattacks are disruptive, the "positive" is it allows governments to strengthen the weaknesses in their Web sites.

Government sites being breached and defaced are not new to Indonesia. Hacktivist group Anonymous Indonesia in January this year launched a series of attacks on such Web sites, including the Law and Human Rights Ministry, the Social Affairs Ministry, the Business Competition Supervisory Commission and the Central Statistics Agency, noted a separate report by The Jakarta Post.

Topics: Security, Government Asia, China, Korea