Tempo.co, the popular news portal in Indonesia, was hacked for several times from Thursday to early Friday.
It was reported that the site was inaccessible for a few hours at a time, with its pages turning black, and played the Indonesia national song "Gugur Bunga" to honor National Heroes. During the song, the defaced website also showed a message saying:
Stop Hoax, Don’t LIE TO the Indonesian People, Return to true journalistic ethics [and] obey the press council. Don’t [bow to] PEOPLE who PAY. Deface By @xdigeeembok.
Tthe message was followed with a link to @xdigeeembok's Twitter account.
Tempo.co chief editor Setri Yasra confirmed the incident, saying that such hacks could be dangerous as it interfered with journalistic activities and press freedom.
Setri considered the hacks an attempt to silence journalism.
“We feel that we don’t have any special or exclusive [writing] on a theme. We just go with the flow, work and cover stories like other media outlets. All the more, our concentration right now is the pandemic.”
Setri said the news company was still discussing the incident internally, while its IT staffs are conducting an internal audit of the site's security system, before determining whether or not to process the case legally.
Separately, National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) commissioner Choirul Anam said the hack was “a serious threat” to democracy and human rights in Indonesia, calling on the authorities to track down the hackers responsible for the hack.
He believes that hacking attempts would haunt Indonesia’s democracy and human rights if not investigated thoroughly.
“If there is a hacking network, dismantling the network is imperative. Without maximum law enforcement and dismantling the network to its roots, this can turn into a scourge for the nation organizing its democracy and human rights,” Choirul said in a statement on Friday.
Choirul hoped that Tempo and other media outlets would not be affected by this incident.
“This has not just become a problem for Tempo Group but it has become a collective problem for those who yearn for a better democratic life in Indonesia and those who highly value human rights,” said Choirul.
The Legal Aid Institute for the Press (LBH Pers) Director, Ade Wahyudin, on Friday said that the hacking against Tempo is a legal violation, and argue that hacking is different to criticism coming from activists and journalists.
“Criticism is definitely permitted and natural in the context of Indonesia, however, hacking is a legal violation,” said Ade Wahyudin to Tempo.
The legal aid director said there if ever news reports may be considered false, misleading or causing discomfort, people can submit or file a complaint. There are available mechanisms to deal with that.
“Legal violations and criticism must be distinguished as the two are a stark contrast,” Ade said. “I think this was done by someone who doesn’t like a piece of news reported by Tempo. That is why they took the practical way through hacking, which is actually a law violation.”
This isn't the first time Tempo's news portal to experience this kind of incident. Back in 2014, the site was also hacked by a hacker that goes with the name Zone Injector.
