Minister Highlights Security Threats Facing the Expanding App Economy

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta - Minister of Creative Economy Teuku Riefky Harsya emphasized the importance of collaboration between the Ministry of Creative Economy (Kemenekraf) and the National Cyber and Crypto Agency (BSSN) to anticipate rising cyber threats targeting digital applications in Indonesia.

“The collaboration between the Ministry of Creative Economy and BSSN aims to anticipate cyber threats,” Minister Riefky said at the Indonesia Application Summit (InApps) 2026 at ICE BSD, Tangerang, on Monday, September 14, 2026.

The Ministry has recorded a sharp increase in cyber threats in 2026, which also pose risks to applications in Indonesia.

According to Minister Riefky, digital applications have become an integral part of daily life, supporting work, study, transactions, entertainment, and business development.

“We work through applications, study through applications, conduct transactions, and enjoy entertainment. We even build businesses through applications,” he said.

He noted that the application industry is no longer solely about technological advancement; it has become a crucial pillar of Indonesia’s digital economic future.

“Therefore, when we speak about the application industry, we are essentially speaking about the future of Indonesia’s digital economy,” he said.

Amid this growth, he stressed that cybersecurity must be prioritized from the earliest stages of application development. He also commended the Ministry’s Director of Applications for moving quickly to collaborate with BSSN in providing cybersecurity guidance to developers.

Director of Applications at the Ministry of Creative Economy, Tri Wahyudi, said his team has been guiding developers on cybersecurity fundamentals to ensure applications do not fail at the testing stage.

“As the Head of BSSN has stated, cyber threats have increased manifold this year, and they certainly pose a threat to applications in Indonesia as well,” Tri said.

He explained that security testing--or penetration testing (pentest)--has often been conducted only after an application is fully developed, a practice considered risky because many issues are discovered late in the process.

“Typically, applications are built first and then tested--a process known as pentesting. That is where many issues tend to surface,” he said.

To address this, the Ministry is advocating for the integration of cybersecurity knowledge from the beginning of development, allowing developers to conduct security testing concurrently with application completion.

“If cybersecurity is taught at the outset, they can perform pentesting while finalizing the application,” he said.

Tri added that implementing cybersecurity standards and compliance measures is essential for application development in Indonesia.

Beyond cybersecurity, Minister Riefky said the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) presents significant opportunities for Indonesia’s application industry. However, technological progress must be accompanied by ethics and good governance.

He noted that President Prabowo Subianto has positioned the creative economy as a new engine of Indonesia’s economic growth, a policy reflected in the Creative Economy Master Plan (Rindekraf) for 2026–2045. (Misni Parjiati)