Iran versus Israel-US War: Indonesia's Digital Resilience

The conflict between Iran and the Israel-United States (US) coalition has long been the centre of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Over the past two decades, the battlefield has extended beyond land, sea, and air into cyberspace. Cyber attacks, hacking of critical infrastructure, and disinformation campaigns have become new weapons on par with missile and drone strikes. For Indonesia, which is geographically and diplomatically distant from the conflict’s epicentre, this digital war still carries significant implications for national digital resilience.

This article elaborates on how the dynamics of the Iran versus Israel-US cyber war influence Indonesia’s digital resilience, as well as the strategic steps needed to further strengthen it amid escalating global tensions.

Dynamics of the Iran vs Israel-US Cyber War. The cyber war between Iran and its adversaries is not a new phenomenon. Since the Stuxnet attack (2010), widely attributed to a US and Israeli military operation targeting Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, sophisticated assaults have become a hallmark. In response, Iran has developed massive offensive cyber capabilities, including groups such as APT34 (OilRig) and APT35 (Charming Kitten) (Zetter, 2014). Iran’s retaliatory attacks have targeted US companies, Gulf allied states, and Israeli infrastructure, such as ransomware strikes on water facilities and hospitals in Israel during 2020-2021 (Greenberg, 2019).

Entering 2023-2024, the open conflict between Iran-backed Hamas and Israel has triggered a new wave of cyber attacks. Pro-Iran groups have intensified Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks on Israeli government and private websites, while the US and Israel have responded with cyber operations to disrupt Iran’s command and logistics systems (Rapid7, 2023). Following Iran’s missile attack on Israel in April 2024, the intensity of cyber attacks has risen dramatically, targeting energy, finance, and transportation sectors on both sides (Microsoft Threat Intelligence, 2024). The defining characteristic of this war is the creation of asymmetric warfare through Iran’s use of low-cost cyber attacks to counter the conventional superiority of Israel and the US.

Spillover Impact on Indonesia. Although Indonesia is not a primary target, its position as the country with the largest digital traffic in Southeast Asia makes it an indirect victim (collateral damage) of the cyber war. There are at least three main channels of impact: First, widespread cyber attacks resulting in collateral infrastructure damage. Many servers and cloud infrastructure used by Indonesian companies are located in global data centres that also serve Middle Eastern targets.

Large-scale cyber attacks, such as botnet or reflection DDoS assaults, can cripple information services accessed from Indonesia. For example, in 2023, a DDoS attack on a European hosting provider, also used by Indonesian banks, caused disruptions to digital banking services for several hours (BSSN, 2023).

Second, an increase in phishing and disguised malware attacks. Groups aligned with Iran or Israel often distribute malware via emails masquerading as humanitarian organisations or current conflict news. Indonesia, with its moderate digital literacy levels, becomes an easy target. BSSN (2024) recorded a 35% rise in Middle East-themed phishing attacks in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the previous period.

Third, disinformation and domestic polarisation. The Iran-Israel war has strong ideological and religious dimensions. Groups in Indonesia often exploit pro-Palestine narratives (implying anti-Israel and anti-US sentiments) or the opposite to mobilise the masses. Bot accounts and troll farms from abroad, both pro-Iran and pro-Israel, have been detected spreading provocative content on Indonesian social media, capitalising on high public sentiment regarding the Palestine issue (Katadata, 2024). This threatens social cohesion and national resilience in the information domain.

Indonesia’s Digital Resilience: Position and Challenges. Digital resilience is defined by the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs as a nation’s ability to ensure the availability, integrity, confidentiality, and authentication of data and digital infrastructure against various threats (Kemenko Polhukam, 2021). In the context of the Iran-US-Israel proxy cyber war, Indonesia faces at least three structural challenges.

First, high dependence on foreign technology. Much of Indonesia’s critical infrastructure, from banking and energy to transportation, relies on hardware and software from the US, Israel, or their allies. Security vulnerabilities (zero-day exploits) targeted by Iranian hackers against products like Microsoft, Cisco, or Siemens automatically become vulnerabilities for Indonesia (CIPS, 2022). Second, inter-agency coordination remains fragmented.

Although the National Cyber and Crypto Agency (BSSN) has been established, coordination with the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, Bank Indonesia, and private sector operators is still suboptimal. Information sharing on attack indicators (indicators of compromise) from the Iran-Israel war often arrives too late. Third, there is a lack of cyber security awareness at the user and SME levels. Over 80% of cyber attacks in Indonesia target the private sector and individuals, not the government (BSSN, 2023). Without a strong culture of cyber hygiene, Indonesia will continue to be the easiest entry point for global hackers.

Strategic Recommendations to Strengthen Digital Resilience. To address the impact of the Iran-Israel-US digital war, Indonesia cannot adopt an isolationist stance and requires proactive and adaptive measures.

First, strengthening cyber diplomacy in multilateral forums. Indonesia must advocate for the establishment of state behaviour norms in cyberspace to