Ministry of Science and ICT Takes Steps to Ensure Software Security of National Key Systems

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 1st that starting from March, it will conduct the '2020 National Major Systems Software Safety Diagnosis and Consulting' targeting five systems closely related to public safety.

So far, the Ministry of Science and ICT has judged that the software safety of national major systems is directly linked to public safety, and since 2015, it has been promoting in-depth diagnosis and consulting on the software safety management status of national or public institutions.

This year, after a public contest held for about a month from January, five final institutions that wished to receive consulting were selected. These include Korea Water Resources Corporation, Daejeon Metropolitan Express Transit Corporation, Central Location Tracking Control Center, Gyeonggi-do Transportation Information Center, and Korea Appraisal Board. The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to conduct consulting sequentially from March to early December.

A Ministry of Science and ICT official explained, "The systems selected this year were decided by comprehensively considering safety importance, impact of failures, urgency of consulting, and the institution's willingness to improve," adding, "This does not mean that there is a risk in the respective systems."

'Software safety' refers to a state sufficiently prepared for accidents that may occur due to internal software malfunctions or insufficient safety functions without external intrusions such as hacking or cyberattacks. The consulting will be conducted by 7 to 9 experts who will diagnose software defects or risk factors for each system over about two months and suggest improvement measures.

Song Kyung-hee, Director of Software Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, "As we enter the digital transformation era and dependence on software across society increases, the importance of securing software safety is growing," adding, "We have newly established provisions related to software safety in the Software Promotion Act amendment submitted to the National Assembly, and will continue to promote support for securing software safety."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.