Questioning the Security Standard of .go.id Websites

.go.id domain is a special domain used by public apparatus to provide information of services and activities as well as report financial condition. Unfortunately, a group of people ruin the good reputation of by putting a deface on .go.id websites. None understands why, but the big question lies on whether the website owners do care about their website’s security and its position related to the applied legislation or not.

We don’t know whether it’s done in purpose or not, but the official website of the Museum of National Resurgence cannot be accessed right on the National Resurgence Day (until this article is published). A group of people (as stated on the website’s front page) have modified the appearance with unproper display. The same goes with the website of attorney. This deface thingy was once launched other .go.id websites, such as bekasikota.go.id, pothan.kemhan.go.id, and many more.

From the cases, we can conclude with ease about the maintenance of .go.id websites, especially on how the owners regard any potential of threat and how they resolve it. Since the websites goes under .go.id domain or act as the representative of the government of Indonesia, they should be equipped with high standard of security in order to minimize the potential of getting such deface or any other types of cyber attack.

In Indonesia, the awareness regarding cyber security indeed is still quite low. Pratama Persadha, ex-Head of IT Security Team at the Presidency of the Republic of Indonesia, as published by Liputan 6, claimed that the condition of cyber security in Indonesia is very poor.

A strict punishment is needed

Although the effect isn’t directly felt, the deface really ruins the convenience that visitors and hinders them from getting official information. The government, in this case the authorities, should start considering it as a threat.

Indonesia has passed the EIT Legislation already which regulates how a citizen of Indonesia behaves on internet. The legislation should be imposed properly to let the troublemakers learn their lesson.

Nonetheless, the government couldn’t go all alone in realizing the dream of information openness for everyone. People should also involve themselves in by treating the websites as a public facility that should be maintained and taken care of.