Indonesia's National Data Center (PDN) has become the latest victim of Lockbit 3.0 ransomware. Indonesia's Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Budi Arie Setiadi said a ransom amounting to Rp 131 billion (~RM37.6 million) was requested by the attackers to restore access to PDN.
As a result of the attack detected since June 20, the online services of 210 central and local government agencies such as immigration are now affected. Work is underway to restore access but has not yet been fully restored.
Lockbit ransomware has been attacking the cyber world since 2019 but started to gain public attention after leading companies such as Thales, Royal Mail, TSMC and Continental fell victim. After a computer system is successfully infected with Lockbit, the data will be locked and can only be accessed again by paying a ransom worth tens of millions.
Last May the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an indictment against Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev who was among the developers of Lockbit. The FBI offered a reward of $10 million (~RM48 million) for information that would lead to his arrest. So far it is estimated that there are more than 2000 Lockbit victims around the world with as much as $500 million ransom has been paid.