Government and Public Institutions Become a "Playground for Hackers"... 180,000 Hacking Attempts in 5 Years

Join Cheol: "Security Budget Execution and Oversight Must Be Strengthened"

Join Chul, member of the Democratic Party of Korea.

Recently, it has been confirmed that hacking attempts targeting organizations under the Ministry of Science and ICT have increased significantly, leading to criticism that the core networks of government and public institutions have become a "playground for hackers."

On September 30, Join Chul, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea representing Gwangju Seo-gu Gap, analyzed audit materials submitted by 83 affiliated organizations, including the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Communications Commission. The analysis revealed that there were a total of 178,831 hacking attempts between 2020 and 2024.

In 2020, the final year of the Moon Jae-in administration, hacking attempts against the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Korea Communications Commission, and the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission remained at 7,610 cases annually. However, since the launch of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, the number has exceeded 10,000 cases, and last year it more than doubled to 16,253 cases.

However, the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) only retains data on hacking attempts for one year, making accurate aggregation difficult. Nevertheless, from September last year to September this year, there were 389,376 hacking attempts, suggesting that the annual total could approach 400,000 cases.

The Korea Post also suffered 36,805 hacking attacks over the past five years, confirming that security threats to postal and financial services nationwide have intensified. Including the Korea Post Financial Development Institute and the Special Post Office Pension Management Agency, the total number of hacking attempts targeting related institutions reached 46,612 cases. Due to the nature of their concurrent financial operations, these organizations are considered top targets for hackers.

Join Chul pointed out, "Some organizations have shown a lax attitude toward strengthening security, as they reported no information leaks or damages even after detecting domestic and international malware intrusions during internal inspections." He emphasized, "The government must further strengthen the execution, management, and oversight of security-related budgets."

He added, "Cyber threats targeting national core networks can have fatal impacts on all aspects of citizens’ lives, so it is time for a more coordinated response."

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