Indonesia probes alleged hacking of coronavirus test data

The Indonesian government has denied claims that 230,000 people who took COVID-19 tests have been leaked online but are investigating the alleged hack.

Communication and Information Minister Johnny Plate said the ministry and the National Cyber and Encryption Agency were following up on information about the data breach.

"The COVID-19 database and the results of the examinations at the ministry's data center are safe," he told The Straits Times in a text message on Sunday (June 21).

The ministry has developed an application called "PeduliLindungi," which seeks to trace and track those testing positive for Covid-19. Millions of people have downloaded it from the Google Play Store and Apple's App Store since its launch in March.

The ministry will also be assessing data centers in other departments and government institutions to ensure they have not been hacked, said Mr. Johnny.

Separately, the National Cyber and Encryption Agency (BSSN) on Sunday denied the database breach.

"BSSN has coordinated with the Health Ministry and the (Covid-19) Task Force to ensure there was no illegal access (to the database) resulting in the data leakage in the electronic system and active information assets of the COVID-19 pandemic management," BSSN spokesman Anton Setiyawan was quoted by Antara news agency.

The reports of the breach arose after an alleged hacker with the username, "Database Shopping," offered to sell the personal data of people undergoing Covid-19 testing in Indonesia.

The alleged hacker, who posted the offer on database sharing and marketplace RaidForums, displayed a set of leaked data and asked for US$300 (S$419) for the entire collection.

The data displayed included names, addresses, phone numbers, ages, and nationalities, as well as medical records of people who underwent Covid-19 tests in several hospitals in Bali, Indonesia's tourism hotspot.

"I sell it to the enthusiast," the alleged hacker said in the post on Thursday.