Some time ago, people were shocked by the alleged leak of 279 million people’s personal data from the Health Social Security Administration Agency (BPJS). The data, which was then allegedly sold in cyberspace, was known to include data on the population registration number, name, address, telephone number, even salary, and others. Until this article was published, the police have been investigating this case.
The issue of data security in the digital world has immediately become a concern for the public. Novi Kurnia, a digital communication expert from FISIPOL UGM and the National Coordinator of the Network of Digital Literacy Activists (Japelidi), emphasized that we need participation and cooperation from all parties to create digital security.
“We cannot be safe in this digital media alone,” said Novi in the webinar ‘Digital Expert Talks #1 – Safe in the Digital World: Whose Responsibility?’ on the CfDS UGM Youtube channel on Friday (4/6).
Novi revealed that three agendas need to be considered in creating security in the digital world. These include implementing digital safe literacy, providing digital safe supervision, and implementing and strengthening law enforcement for activities in the digital world.
The three agendas cannot be implemented if only delegated to one party. Therefore, Novi hopes that the implementation can be carried out jointly by the government/legal institutions, digital media/platforms, industry/personal data managers, universities, communities, legal aid institutions, and digital media users themselves.
“We can prevent data leak if the entire collaboration, the actors, are aware of the importance of protecting data,” concluded Novi.
Overall, the digital security that Novi means is the process to ensure the use of digital services both online and offline can be done safely and comfortably. Furthermore, digital security is both to secure confidential personal data and protect other people’s data.
Tips for Dealing with Data Leak
Novi also shared tips with the public on how to deal with data leaks. When the issue came out to the public, first, Novi asked them to check the security of their respective digital data: are we personally included in the party whose data is leaked or have the potential to become victims of data leakage? To find out, people can use platforms or applications that function to help check it.
After that, the next step is to report, both for our own data and other people’s data, when faced with a data leak.
