The personal Instagram account of Indonesian vice presidential candidate, Mahfud MD, was hacked on Tuesday, Kompas reported.
Mahfud Md, the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs of Indonesia, is the running mate of Ganjar Pranowo. Both candidates represent the country's ruling party, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
The hacking occurred just as the country reached an important juncture in the election, with more than 205 million Indonesians electing their next president next month on Feb. 14, 2024.
Posted clip of foreign soldiers
On Tuesday afternoon (Jan. 16), a short clip of foreign soldiers playing ball on the beach was uploaded on Mahfud's Instagram account.
Some of the soldiers wore green military uniforms, while ships could be seen in the background of the video.
A small Israeli flag logo could also be seen in the video.
The caption of the video, written in Hebrew, read: "God is above me, who dares to control me?"
Indonesian media outlet Detik identified them as Israeli soldiers.
Akun IG Mahfud Md Kena Hack, Unggah Video Angkatan Laut Israel
Oktafiandi meminta masyarakat mengabaikan jika ada pesan yang masuk mengatas namakan Mahfud. Dia menuturkan instagram tengah diambil alih oleh tim pic.twitter.com/imSHNhDyUu
— detikcom (@detikcom) January 16, 2024
Hacked since Tuesday afternoon
The post was quickly flooded with comments from Instagram users who assumed that the Instagram account of the VP candidate was hacked.
Shortly after, a staff member from Mahfud's team, Rizal Mustary, confirmed that the minister's Instagram account had been hacked since Tuesday (Jan. 16) afternoon.
"All posts and direct messages from the account are not from Mr Mahfud MD," Rizal said, as quoted by Kompas.
Oktafiandi, a member of Ganjar-Mahfud's campaign team, urged members of the public to ignore any posts or direct messages claiming to be from Mahfud until further notice.
Accounts prone to hacking during campaign period
The Chairman of the Indonesia Cyber Security Forum, Ardi Sutedja, said that social media accounts are especially more prone to hacking during a campaign period.
This is especially true for candidates participating in an election.
He encouraged all contestants to be more careful in protecting their social media accounts.
"During this campaign period, the air war (online space) is massive. Hoaxes are also very voluminous, so all parties must be more careful in securing their social media from hacking," said Ardi, as quoted by Kompas.
Recovered account
A quick look at Mahfud's Instagram as of Jan. 18 shows that the vice presidential hopeful has recovered his hacked social media account.
He reposted several stories congratulating him for getting his Instagram account back.
Screenshot via @mohmahfudmd/Instagram.
Screenshot via @mohmahfudmd/Instagram.
Fourth debate
As Indonesia moves closer to the election on Feb. 14, the country's three presidential candidates have been continuing to sway voters to their side.
The country's three presidential hopefuls concluded their third televised live debate and their running mate will be gearing up for the fourth debate on Sunday (21st January).
Read more:
Top image via @hikmat_says/X and Mahfud MD/Facebook.