Telkom Indonesia collaborates with F5 on cybersecurity services

Telkom Indonesia announced on Thursday that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with cybersecurity firm F5 to collaborate on cybersecurity services and strengthen Telkom’s own security capabilities.

Under the strategic collaboration deal, which was signed on Monday, Telkom Indonesia and F5 will work together to provide comprehensive cybersecurity services to organisations in Indonesia via Telkom’s B2B Digital IT Services arm.

Telkom’s strategic portfolio director Budi Setyawan Wijaya said the partnership aims to “strengthen Telkom Group’s capabilities as the main digital telco of choice in Indonesia, especially in the field of cyber security” and other digital offerings.

Adam Judd, senior VP for APCJ at F5, said the company’s experience with application and API security, as well as multicloud management, would help strengthen Telkom Group’s IT Services portfolio.

“With F5’s AI-based capabilities, our strategic partnership with Telkom not only answers current and future cybersecurity challenges, but also opens the way for new business models and revenue sources,” he said.

While cyber attacks in general are escalating around the world, Indonesia has seen a sharp rise in such attacks in the past year as its economy grows and its shift to a digital economy progresses. A recent analysis by Check Point found that Indonesia was the most popular target for cyberattacks in Southeast Asia in the first half of 2023, with an average of 3,300 cyberattacks every week.

The country has also suffered numerous high-profile data leaks. In January this year, a hacking group claimed to have stolen sensitive data from state-owned railway company Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI). In November 2023, a hacker leaked voter data records allegedly stolen from the General Elections Commission (KPU) ahead of the country’s general elections in February 2024. In July 2023, a hacker posted the data of over 34 million Indonesian passport holders.

“The need for cyber security in the future will increase rapidly as the digital transformation campaign in Indonesia becomes stronger and the Personal Data Protection Law will come into force in October 2024,” said FM Venusiana R, Telkom’s director of enterprise and business services.

Analyst firm IDC forecasts the cybersecurity market in Indonesia to reach IDR 6 trillion (US$372.6 million) in 2028, with a CAGR of 16.6% from 2022 to 2028.