UI Security Analyst Says Java Blackout `Odd`
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5 August 2019 13:06 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - University of Indonesia's (UI) security and intelligence analyst Ridlwan Habib said there was something odd about Sunday's massive blackout in most of Java. He believed that what happened was not a coincidence.
"If this was an attack, then Indonesia is very vulnerable. Hopefully this was just [caused by] human error—but I doubt it," he told Tempo on Monday, August 5.
Ridlwan said it is strange how a transmission disturbance at the Ungaran-Pemalang (Central Java) Extra High Voltage Air Duct happened at the same time with the disruption at the Suralaya steam power plan in West Java.
"It is hard to explain if you call it a coincidence," he remarked.
He believed the blackout must be investigated, "was it human error, or was it done by hackers?" he said. Disrupting a country's electricity system, he said, could be done by hacking PLN's operating systems.
He said that hackers could break into officials or electricity staffers' emails and phones and take control over their digital equipment.
"From there, they can have access to keys, passwords, usernames, and other data. So what they can do is attack the system through the employees," he said.
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