JAKARTA. An expert says that the recent hacks of e-mail accounts belonging to coal miner PT Bumi Resources show that Indonesia is still lagging in cyber-security.

An investigation conducted by Narliswandi “Iwan” Piliang and digital forensic analysts Agung Harsoyo and Insan Praja in January determined that hackers from an international network broke into the secure servers of Bumi Resources to steal data.

“We found a form of malware inserted by the hackers on the Bumi employee’s computer through the web and e-mails. The virus was sent by a company using the Internet domain venturaservice.net addressed in Rotterdam, the Netherlands,” Iwan said on Tuesday.

Iwan said that he reported the results of his investigation to the National Police for investigation.

“The hacker is operating its business from overseas; therefore, we need to cooperate with the authorities,” Iwan said.

“We suspect that several foreign corporations have used foreign agencies to hack data from Indonesian companies. The purpose seems to be to allow for expansion of their businesses here.”

Bumi has been under the spotlight after its majority shareholder, London-listed Bumi plc, launched last year an investigation over reported financial irregularities that the firm declined to make public, claiming that illegal methods, including hacking, were used to conduct the investigation.

The investigation sparked a dispute between major Bumi plc shareholder Bakrie Group, which owns indirectly a 23.8 percent stake in the company, and company founder Nathaniel Rothschild, who currently holds a 14 percent stake.

They have been slated to resolve the dispute in an extraordinary general meeting scheduled to take place on Feb.21, when, Rothschild is expected to attempt to fire Bakrie-connected Bumi plc directors. 

Raras Cahyafitri / The Jakarta Post

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