Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesian State IntelligenceAgency (BIN) has defined a number of threats to the national stability andsecurity, including COVID-19 and secessionist movementin Papua.

Speaking at a conference on June 15, BIN Spokesperson WawanHari Purwanto said that COVID-19 pandemic has threatened the safety of a largercommunity, worsening economic crisis, affecting healthcare and education facilitiesand increasing unemployment.

Meanwhile, secessionist activitiesin Papua are one of the factors leading to a risk of national disintegration,he said.

Purwanto also mentioned social network scams, especially those related toethnic, religious and race issues. He underlined that the spreading of newsrelated to sensitive issues on social networks will pose widespread impacts.

Cyber attack was also named as one of the national threats of Indonesia.According to Purwanto, Indonesian people’s knowledge of cybersecurity should beimproved. Cyber attacks may hinder the digitalisation process of the economyand caused public pessimism about the industry 4.0 programme that has been optimisedby the government.

Purwanto affirmed that BIN, as the frontline force of thenational security system, will continue to work for the early detection andearly prevention of national security threats./.