The Indonesian Police have made a number of high-profile arrests recently related to cyber crimes. After tracking down a number of individuals allegedly belonging to the Muslim Cyber Army of hoax spreaders, on Sunday they arrested three people they believe to have been part of a hacker group who infiltrated companies’ IT systems in order to hold them ransom for untraceable Bitcoin payouts.
Officers from the Jakarta Cyber Crime Sub-Directorate arrested the three hackers, who were all allegedly members of a group called ‘Surabaya Blackhat’ (a “black hat” being a term for a criminal hacker, as well as the title for a 2015 Chris Hemsworth flop about criminal hackers that just happened to be partially shot in Indonesia). As you might have guessed, the three were arrested in the East Java city of Surabaya.
Cyber Crime Police Chief Roberto Pasaribu said they uncovered the hacking group after receiving information from foreign law enforcement agencies through the IC3 (Internet Crimes Complaint Center).
“We were informed there is a group of people in Indonesia who were illegally accessing electronic systems owned by people in America and 42 other countries, including Indonesia,” Roberto told Detik yesterday.
The cyber crime chief said that there was evidence of the hackers infiltrating over 3,000 IT systems, including one belonging to the Los Angeles government. They said some of the payments they received were equivalent to over IDR500 million (USD35,000).
Based on the information they received, Indonesian police were able to identify six suspects and track down three residing in Surabaya (all of whom happened to be 21-years-old). The other three are still currently being pursued.
Roberto said the perpetrators MO was to break into the internet security systems of groups and individuals. Once inside, they could hold their data for ransom, payment of which was sent in the form of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin as well as to Paypal accounts.
At the time of the arrest, police seized evidence in the form of mobile phones, laptops, modems, e-mail accounts, Bitcoin accounts and Paypal accounts.
The three suspects who have been arrested will be charged under Indonesian laws governing Internet transactions and data theft and could face up to 8 years in prison if convicted.
