BSSN RI Urges Joint Effort to Strengthen Cybersecurity

Lieut. Gen. (Ret.) Nugroho Sulistyo Budi, M.M., Head of the National Cyber and Crypto Agency (BSSN), had the opportunity to deliver a lecture to participants of the Preparation and Consolidation Program for the National-level Leaders (P4N) Batch LXIX in the NKRI Room on Friday (2/13). During the session, Nugroho Sulistyo presented material on the implementation of policies to strengthen cyber awareness and security in facing multidimensional threats, aimed at enhancing national resilience.

“BSSN’s roles and functions are closely linked to national security and interests, even touching on the very existence of sovereignty. BSSN is not merely a cybersecurity agency,” Nugroho Sulistyo said at the opening of his lecture. He emphasized that cybersecurity is not only a technical matter but also relates to current political realities, which demonstrate that cyberspace has become a theater of geopolitical contestation. Cyber threats have evolved into kinetic threats, cyber logic attacks, attacks via frequency spectrum such as the internet, and supply chain disruptions.

Nugroho Sulistyo also stated that maintaining cybersecurity is a collaborative effort involving various stakeholders and entities, as BSSN’s role is primarily to monitor vulnerabilities and issue warnings. “This is where awareness, concern, and vigilance become crucial. Without concern and vigilance, cybersecurity becomes merely a given,” he said.

In the context of global geopolitical competition, cybersecurity infrastructure is highly critical. Nugroho Sulistyo explained that the current cyber environment faces numerous challenges, marked by frequent attacks originating from both state and non-state actors. According to BSSN’s operation center monitoring study, approximately 700 million suspicious internet traffic incidents were recorded in the national network during the year 2000.

Furthermore, Nugroho Sulistyo noted that to address these challenges, BSSN has established a response team tasked with identifying potential vulnerabilities related to risk management. Every existing electronic system is analyzed to detect vulnerabilities from technological, governance, and other perspectives. After the identification process, protective measures are implemented to close any detected gaps.

Concluding his lecture, Nugroho Sulistyo hoped that through this session, P4N participants would develop cyber awareness as a form of national defense, which requires collaborative efforts from all influential entities.

(SF/SP/CHP/MDF)