According to Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid, the government is targeting to make the data center operational by the end of March 2025.
After the construction of the data center is completed, Indonesia will have a better data center system than before, she said.
Through the center, data from across ministries and government agencies that are currently separate can be integrated.
The presence of the data center is expected to boost the efficiency of government data management and the provision of digital services for the public.
Earlier on June 20, 2024, the Temporary National Data Center (PDNS) 2 in Surabaya, East Java, was targeted in a cyberattack in the form of a ransomware called Brain Cipher, which affected several public services, including immigration services.
At the time, the crisis was tackled through cooperation between the Ministry of Communication and Informatics (now the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs), the National Cyber and Encryption Agency (BSSN), the National Police (Polri), and IT solutions company Telkomsigma.
The government implemented measures to handle the attack by isolating data and encouraging data migration to continue to be carried out by affected service managers.
In view of this incident, the government is seeking to ensure the security of the Cikarang PDN.
The Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs is carrying out a final assessment of the reliability of the Cikarang PDN's cybersecurity system to prevent another disruption like the one experienced at the temporary data center last year.
The assessment includes the operational aspects of the data center, which will support the digitalization of public services. Once the assessment is completed, the data center will be inaugurated.
Strengthening infrastructure
The government initially planned to build a national data center in Batam in cooperation with South Korea. However, the project was shelved due to lack of significant progress in the cooperation over the past two years.
Meanwhile, other data center projects in Labuan Bajo and Indonesia's new capital Nusantara have not even entered the auction stage.
Cybersecurity expert and head of the Cybersecurity Research Institute CISSReC, Pratama Persadha, said that the cancellation of the data center project in Batam would have significant ramifications on national data security.
From a cybersecurity perspective, relying only on the Cikarang PDN could pose a number of risks that could weaken the resilience of the national data infrastructure, he explained.
Meanwhile, in terms of managing government data and digital public services, with only one main national data center operating, Indonesia faces the risk of a single point of failure.
That means disruptions or attacks targeting the Cikarang PDN could paralyze public service systems that depend on it.
However, if there are several national data centers spread out across the country, then an attack on one location would not immediately paralyze the entire government service system.
To respond to this challenge, he suggested that the government accelerate the development of national data centers in other locations to ensure that the national data management system continues to run as planned.
In addition, it is deemed essential to prioritize the strengthening of the security of existing infrastructure.
The adoption of advanced security technologies such as high-level encryption and artificial intelligence-based threat detection is expected to help reduce the risk of leaks and cyberattacks.
The government also needs to cooperate with the private sector and the tech industry to build a strong data security ecosystem.
Collaboration with cloud service providers and cybersecurity institutions could help close the infrastructure gap.
Considering the continued development of cyberthreats, adopting a multi-party approach is essential to maintain national data sovereignty and ensure the continued safety and stability of public services.
Human resources
Cybersecurity observer Alfons Tanujaya highlighted the importance of competent human resources for managing the national data center to ensure its security.
"If we decide to manage our own data ... it needs to be managed with good standards," he said.
He noted that skilled workers are needed to support national data center development, adding that without management that meets the standards, data centers will not function optimally.
Besides improving human resource skills, the management of integrated data, especially non-sensitive data, must involve domestic private parties. This approach is considered safer and more efficient for managing government data.
"If there are issues, the responsibility is still with the companies that are operating in Indonesia," he explained.
With the presence of reliable infrastructure and competent human resources, the security of the data center can be guaranteed and disruptions like the one in 2024 can be avoided, thereby ensuring the continuity of safe and stable public services.
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Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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