AJI Research: Media Companies in Indonesia Most Frequently Experience Buzzer Attacks

According to research by the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) in 2024, 71.6% of media companies in Indonesia have experienced at least one of nine types of digital attacks in the last 5 years.

Of the nine types of digital attacks, the most frequently experienced by media companies are buzzer/troll attacks, with a score of 3.07 points on a scale of 0-4.

"Meanwhile, the least frequently experienced types of attacks are ransomware (score 3.88) and interception/eavesdropping (score 3.87)," AJI explained in its report.

Below are the scores for digital attacks against media companies in Indonesia, based on attack type, ordered from lowest to highest, according to AJI's research:

1. Buzzer/troll attacks on social media accounts, applications, etc.: 3.07 points
2. Website attacks: 3.09 points
3. False/unsubstantiated reports related to social media accounts: 3.34 points
4. Digital account takeover/hacking: 3.47 points
5. Viruses: 3.63 points
6. Spyware: 3.74 points
7. Trojan: 3.76 points
8. Interception/eavesdropping: 3.87 points
9. Ransomware: 3.88 points
10. Total: 3.54 points

"Based on these findings, media companies generally fall between 'never' and 'very rarely' experiencing the various digital attacks mentioned above," AJI stated.

AJI processed these scores from the assessments of 116 top management respondents from media companies, representing 116 media outlets across Indonesia.

In its assessment, respondents were asked to report their experiences regarding the nine types of digital attacks mentioned above and choose one of five options: never, very rarely, sometimes, often, and always for each type of digital attack.

Each answer choice had a weighted score on a scale of 0-4. The higher the score, the better the digital security score of the media company.