Brinztech Alert: The Alleged Database of Mojokerto City is Leaked

Dark Web News Analysis

The dark web news reports a significant data privacy and infrastructure incident involving the municipal government of Mojokerto City, Indonesia. A threat actor on a hacker forum is claiming to have leaked a database containing sensitive government information, reportedly accessed via a critical Subdomain Misconfiguration.

The compromised dataset deeply impacts the local civil service apparatus. It reportedly includes the personal data of thousands of civil servants, specifically exposing their Employee Identification Numbers (NIP – Nomor Induk Pegawai). Furthermore, the leak contains hundreds of Official Letters and internal documents. The root cause—a misconfigured subdomain—highlights a dangerous blind spot in the organization’s web infrastructure security, acting as an open backdoor for data exfiltration.

Key Cybersecurity Insights

Breaches of municipal IT infrastructure are “Tier 1” civic threats because they compromise the administrative foundation of a city and the identities of its public servants:

• Subdomain Vulnerabilities: The exploitation of a misconfigured subdomain (such as a dangling DNS record pointing to a decommissioned service) is a critical infrastructure failure. Attackers can perform a “Subdomain Takeover,” allowing them to bypass primary firewalls, host malicious content under a trusted .go.id domain, or directly query unprotected backend databases.
• NIP-Driven Identity Theft: In the Indonesian civil service, the NIP is the master key to a government employee’s professional and financial life. The exposure of NIPs alongside personal data allows criminals to commit sophisticated identity theft, targeting civil servant pension funds (TASPEN), state-backed health insurance (BPJS), or applying for fraudulent loans.
• Weaponization of Official Letters: The leak of Official Letters (Surat Dinas) provides threat actors with the exact templates, signatures, and administrative jargon used by the Mojokerto City government. Attackers can use these authentic documents to launch devastatingly realistic Social Engineering and Business Email Compromise (BEC) campaigns against other regional apparatus organizations (OPD) or private contractors to authorize fraudulent payments.
• National Security Implications: Even at the municipal level, the exposure of internal communications and personnel registries undermines the integrity of Indonesia’s digital governance (SPBE) initiatives, eroding public trust in local institutions.

Mitigation Strategies

To protect civil servants and restore the integrity of the municipal network, the following strategies are recommended:

• Forensic Containment: The Mojokerto IT department (Diskominfo) and the local CSIRT must immediately identify and isolate the misconfigured subdomain. Any dangling DNS records must be deleted or repointed to secure, active servers.
• Comprehensive Security Audit: Conduct a full external footprinting audit of all Mojokerto City subdomains, APIs, and web applications to identify and remediate similar misconfigurations before they are exploited.
• BSSN Notification: Coordinate with the National Cyber and Crypto Agency (BSSN) to investigate the extent of the exfiltration and monitor the dark web for further distribution of the official documents.
• Civil Servant Advisory: Issue an immediate internal alert to all civil servants. Advise them to monitor their financial and pension accounts for unauthorized activity linked to their NIP, and to verify the authenticity of any unexpected internal directives or “Official Letters” via a secondary channel (e.g., a phone call).

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