Bella Evanglista, Jakarta – Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, the Director General of Informatics Applications at the Communications and Informatics Ministry, resigned from his position in the wake of the breach of the Temporary National Data Center (PDNS) 2.
"It's been almost 8 years since I met my colleagues. Now is the time for me to part ways. As of July 1st, I have submitted my verbal resignation and handed over the letter to the Communication and Information Minister," Semuel said at a press conference on Thursday.
His resignation follows the responsibility he assumed after the PDNS 2 hacking incident on June 20, which significantly disrupted public services, mainly immigration services. The compromised data within PDNS 2 remains unusable and unrecoverable but affected government services have resumed.
"Technically, this incident falls under my responsibility as the overseeing Director General in the government's transformation process. So, I take moral responsibility; this should have been something I handled better," he continued.
Semuel mentioned that Communication and Information Minister Budi Arie Setiadi will issue an official statement in response to his resignation.
The Ministry is currently processing the appointment of Semuel's successor, who will oversee the PDNS hacking case.
After resigning, Semuel expressed his commitment to continue focusing on Indonesia's digital transformation, despite no longer being part of the government.
President Joko Widodo responded to the PDNS 2 breach, assuring that the government has evaluated all related issues.
"We have found solutions to prevent such incidents from happening again. It's crucial to back up all our national data so that we won't be caught off guard in the future," Jokowi said on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the hacker group Brain Cipher, responsible for the attack announced plans to provide decryption keys for the hacked data. They stated they would offer the keys for free after initially demanding an $8 million ransom.
Brain Cipher also apologized to the Indonesian public for the disruption caused by their actions, emphasizing that the attack was not politically motivated.
Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/communications-ministry-official-quits-over-national-data-center-hac