National Research Foundation Exposes Security Flaws in Leak of 120,000 Researchers' Personal Data

Spent 5.9 Billion Won Over 5 Years, Yet Resident Registration Numbers Were Leaked
Moonsoo Kim: "Urgent Need to Improve Systems to Prevent Recurrence"

Moonsoo Kim, Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker.

Despite spending billions of won on information security budgets, incidents of personal data being leaked without protection have occurred, bringing public institutions' lack of security awareness into the spotlight.

Moonsoo Kim, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea (representing Suncheon, Gwangyang, Gokseong, and Gurye in South Jeolla Province), criticized the National Research Foundation of Korea for a major incident in which the personal information of over 120,000 researchers was continuously leaked due to a large-scale hacking attack, even though the foundation had spent approximately 5.928 billion won on security budgets over the past five years.

According to the audit materials submitted by the foundation to Assemblyman Kim on September 22, the National Research Foundation of Korea has steadily invested around 1 billion won annually in its security budget since 2020. However, in June of this year, a vulnerable security system was breached, resulting in the leakage of the names, IDs, birth dates, mobile phone numbers, workplace information, and even bank account details of 122,954 researchers. Among them, the resident registration numbers of 116 individuals were also exposed.

The foundation's response after the incident has also come under criticism. It was revealed that even basic security measures such as two-factor authentication at the time of member registration were not properly implemented. Furthermore, even after recognizing the hacking, the foundation failed to disclose the incident to the public for three days, which is believed to have exacerbated the damage. The notification to victims was also conducted via email, a method that made it difficult to confirm receipt immediately, fueling criticism of a delayed and passive response.

While a foundation official cited "an outdated system" as the main cause of the hacking, critics argue that it is irresponsible to use this as an excuse after investing billions of won in information security over five years.

Assemblyman Kim stated, "Even if personal information is protected nine times out of ten, a single leak can lead to an irreparable major incident," and urged, "Since a considerable budget is being allocated, the system must be quickly improved to prevent recurrence."

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