Indonesia to create its own cyber army

The Indonesian defence ministry plans to create a special force called "cyber army" to tackle attacks by hackers against the state's Internet portals and websites.

A senior official at the ministry said that it would propose a law to legalize the operation of the "cyber army". The plan to set up the special force was formulated after rampant attacks against government Internet portals and websites were reported during the last three years, reported Xinhua.

Pos M. Hutabarat, director general of security potentials at the ministry, said that there is an urgent need for a law to create the "cyber army" in Indonesia.

According to Pos, the "cyber army" will be manned by uniformed soldiers specially trained in information technology.

He said that similar cyber units are already operational in several countries, including the US, China, South Korea and Iran.

Indonesian Defence Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said earlier that establishment of the task force would need the full support of the Communication and Information Ministry.

The ministry is expected to provide telecommunication infrastructure management system, equipment and trainers for the members of the proposed "cyber army", Purnomo added.

"The Communication and Information ministry has the capacity to build up the cyber security," he said, adding that the "cyber army" unit is planned to be embedded in the navy, the army and the air force.

Communications and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring said earlier that websites of Indonesia's state ministries and agencies have received more than 36.6 million cyber attacks from hackers in the last three years.

He said that his ministry is in a process of building a system called "National Cyber Security" to protect websites of government institutions and agencies.