Rep. Kim Youngjin: "60,000 Hacking Attempts on Ministry of Economy and Finance and Affiliates in Past 5 Years"

"Government Agencies Must Remain Vigilant Amid Ongoing Information Leaks"

Amid ongoing controversy over recent information leaks by telecommunications companies and credit card firms, it has been revealed that hacking attempts targeting the Ministry of Economy and Finance and its affiliated agencies surged last year.

Kim Youngjin, member of the Democratic Party of Korea. Photo provided by Kim's office

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and related agencies to Assemblyman Kim Youngjin of the National Assembly's Strategy and Finance Committee on September 24, the number of detected hacking attempts against the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the National Tax Service, the Korea Customs Service, the Public Procurement Service, Statistics Korea, and the Korea Fiscal Information Service over the past five years (from 2021 to August 2025) reached 60,566 cases.

By institution, the National Tax Service recorded the highest number with 23,356 cases, followed by Statistics Korea with 18,400 cases, the Public Procurement Service with 10,408 cases, the Korea Customs Service with 6,013 cases, the Ministry of Economy and Finance with 1,259 cases, and the Korea Fiscal Information Service with 1,130 cases.

The number of hacking attempts surged particularly in 2024 and 2025. Compared to 2023, hacking attempts against the six agencies increased by 1.8 times in 2024. Notably, the Korea Fiscal Information Service saw a 6.2-fold increase, and the Korea Customs Service experienced a 5.7-fold increase. For the National Tax Service, the number of hacking attempts through August 2025 reached 6,539 cases, nearly 2,000 more than the previous year (4,688 cases). Among the six agencies, hacking attempts originating from abroad (46,078 cases) overwhelmingly outnumbered those from within Korea (14,488 cases), with a sharp increase in attempts traced to the United States.

Despite the high number of hacking attempts, it was reported that none of the six agencies experienced an actual hacking breach. However, concerns have been raised that agencies under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which handle not only national finances but also sensitive personal information such as individual taxpayers' data, need to be thoroughly prepared.

Assemblyman Kim Youngjin stated, "With recent severe personal information leaks from private companies such as KT and Lotte Card, agencies under the Ministry of Economy and Finance that handle personal tax information are also at high risk of exposure to hacking crimes." He emphasized, "Given the sharp increase in hacking attempts, it is essential to proactively invest in budgets and personnel to prevent hacking and ensure thorough preparedness."

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