Juridical Analysis of Criminal Law Enforcement in Economic Crime in the Bjorka Hacker Case in Indonesia

Abstract

The rapid expansion of Indonesia’s digital economy has been accompanied by increasingly sophisticated cybercrime, including the illegal acquisition and sale of personal data. The case of the hacker known as Bjorka, involving the theft and sale of personal data, exposed both the vulnerability of national data systems and the difficulty of holding offenders accountable under existing law. This study aims to analyse the legal construction of the illegal theft and sale of personal data attributed to Bjorka under Indonesian positive law, and to assess the adequacy of the legal protection available to victims of such data breaches. The study employs a normative juridical approach, grounded in statutory and conceptual analysis. Its primary legal materials are Law No. 11 of 2008 concerning Electronic Information and Transactions, as amended by Law No. 19 of 2016, and Law No. 27 of 2022 concerning Personal Data Protection, examined alongside secondary materials drawn from legal scholarship and relevant case documentation. The findings indicate that Bjorka’s conduct satisfies the elements of cybercrime and may be subject to criminal penalties under the relevant provisions of both statutes. The analysis further identifies the statutory basis on which the theft and sale of personal data may be characterised as an offence and examines the remedies, compensation mechanisms, and supervisory oversight through which the framework addresses harm to affected data subjects. The study contributes to Indonesian digital-economic criminal law by clarifying how the Electronic Information and Transactions Law and the Personal Data Protection Law apply to large-scale personal-data offences, and by highlighting the need for stronger enforcement and more effective protection for data-breach victims as digital activity continues to expand.