KPU hacker case a first for police

Evi Mariani, Jakarta

The Jakarta Police cyber crimes division admitted on Wednesday that the investigation into the suspected hacker of the General Elections Committee (KPU) website, Dani Firmansyah, was an unprecedented challenge for the country's legal system.

"This is the first time we are charging a suspect under Article 22 of Law No. 39/1999 on telecommunications," cyber crimes chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Petrus Reinhard Golose said on Wednesday.

"If we can settle the case quickly, hopefully we can be omitted from the list of countries banned from international information technology," he added.

Dani, a final year student at the School of International Relations at University of Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, was arrested on April 22 for hacking the KPU website and changing political parties' names into parodies.

He faces a maximum six-year imprisonment for illegally accessing and manipulating a telecommunications network or telecommunications services.

"He is being detained at city police headquarters, separate from petty criminals. Of course, we aren't giving him any access to the Internet," Petrus said.

Admitting to the suspect's adroitness in Information Technology (IT), he said Dani would be asked to help build a security system for the cyber crimes' website, which will be launched soon.

"The suspect told investigators that he wouldn't mind helping the KPU IT team to improve its web security which, according to him, is weak," Petrus said, chuckling.

Telecommunications expert Roy Suryo told The Jakarta Post via SMS (short messaging service) that it would be better for Dani if he was sentenced to community service and provided his expertise for the government or the police.

"Dani Firmansyah can be a good security systems expert. I have noticed he wrote some good articles on the Internet, such as Cross-Site Scripting Disaster for Hotmail and Passport.net and Turning Off the Registration Function in MIRC 6.03," he said.

The sentence might be unpopular in Indonesia, but it is the best solution for all, he added.

Petrus said some hackers had attacked websites of several major companies, such as state oil company Pertamina, demanding Dani's release.

He also called on lawmakers to pass the bill on electronic transactions immediately, so that "the court will recognize digital evidence in telecommunications cases".