Narasi media staff and editors experienced a digital attack on Saturday, September 24, 2022. This attack continued until Monday, September 26, 2022. At least 37 Narasi editors and staff were recorded as experiencing digital attacks. AJI noted that this attack was the biggest hacking case experienced by media crews in Indonesia in the last four years.
Attempts to hack Narasi media staff and editors, spanning various social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Telegram and WhatsApp accounts as well as Twitter. Narrasi media editors that are targeted come from various levels, ranging from editor-in-chief, managers, finance, producers to reporters.
The first hack occurred on the WhatsApp number belonging to Akbar Wijaya or Jay Akbar, one of the Narasi media producers. That Saturday, Jay received a number of unknown links via WhatsApp at around 3:29 PM. Even though Jay didn't click on any of the links in the text message, 10 seconds later, Jay lost control of his WhatsApp number.
Then, one by one the social media accounts of the Narasi editorial team became the target of hacking attempts. Narasi journalists managed to recover their accounts after receiving assistance from AJI Indonesia and TRACE.
AJI Indonesia has distributed an online petition to gather public support regarding the alleged systematic hacking of the social media accounts of Narasi media staff and editors. This online petition, which is posted on the Change.org page, was distributed on September 23, 2022 and has received the support of around 16,000 people.
The petition was submitted by AJI, LBH Pers and SAFEnet to the Presidential Staff Office. The petition was received by Deputy V of the Presidential Staff Office, Jaleswari Pramodhawardani on October 10, 2022. This case has been reported to the police, and there has been no update from the police regarding the development of this case.