Govt to set up team to cope with increasing cyber crime

Govt to set up team to cope with increasing cyber crime

Tony Hotland, Jakarta

The government plans to establish an "emergency response" team
to deal with cases of cyber fraud, especially those involving
credit cards.

Tulus Rahardjo, frequency supervision director at the Ministry
of Communications, said preliminary discussions on the team were
underway.

"The team will consist of members of our department, the
Office of the State Minister for Communications and Information,
APJII and the police," he said on Wednesday after opening the
second working meeting of the Indonesian Internet Service
Provider Association (APJII).

"It is very crucial considering that in 2003, Indonesia topped
the list of countries with the most cyber fraud cases," he said.

Data compiled by the APJII show that there were at least 210
Internet credit card fraud cases in 2003. The association
recorded at least 21 cases during the first quarter of this year.

Experts have blamed law enforcers' lack of knowledge about
electronic crimes and the absence of electronic crime laws for
the increase in cyber crimes.

A draft bill on electronic information and transactions was
sent to the State Secretary on April 8. It is awaiting the
president's approval to be discussed by the House of
Representatives.

If enacted, the law would regulate electronic and transaction
systems for fund transfers, e-payments and electronic data
interchange, as well as e-mail and credit card transactions.

Also on Wednesday, the APJII launched its Surabaya-based
Indonesian Internet Exchange (IIX) JI, which is hoped will allow
Internet service providers (ISPs) in East Java to charge less and
provide faster connections to users. There are about 17 ISPs in
East Java.

"With this system, ISPs in East Java will be connected to one
another. They will pay up to 50 percent lower fees as a group
compared to when they were connected to the IIX in Jakarta as
individuals," said the association's secretary-general, Heru
Nugroho.

The IIX JI is an extension of the Jakarta IIX. The APJII plans
to build similar networks in Bandung, Yogyakarta, Medan, Makassar
and Balikpapan.

Before the establishment of the IIX in 1997, Indonesian ISPs
had to distribute data accessed by domestic users through foreign
networks, which resulted in higher costs.

For example, an e-mail sent by a person in Jakarta to another
person in Jakarta was first sent to Japan, then to the United
States and Singapore, before finally being sent to its final
destination.

The association says the IIX has helped ISPs save up to US$1.2
million per month. There are some 105 ISPs in the country.

There were about 865,706 Internet subscribers and eight
million users last year. The figures are expected to increase to
1.3 million and 12 million respectively by the end of 2004.