Cybersecurity Gaps at Culture Ministry: Zero Budget, No Dedicated Staff, Virtually Defenseless

No Budget for Five Key Projects, Only 36.5% of Dedicated Hacking Response Staff Secured
Park Suhyun: "Over 3,000 Attacks Repeated Annually... Urgent Need for More Personnel and Budget"

Democratic Party member Park Suhyun

As reports of hacking targeting South Korean government agencies continue to be released, it has been revealed that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and its affiliated organizations are effectively in a 'defenseless state' when it comes to cybersecurity.

Many of the core hacking response projects have not even secured budgets, and due to a shortage of dedicated personnel, the ministry is left helplessly exposed to more than 3,000 attacks every year.

According to data on the 'Hacking Response Status of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Its Affiliated Organizations' released on October 13 by Assemblyman Park Suhyun (Democratic Party, Gongju, Buyeo, Cheongyang in South Chungcheong Province), who is a member of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, five out of a total of eleven hacking response projects at the ministry have not received a single won from the government budget from 2024 through 2026.

The projects left neglected with a 'zero budget' include: ▲establishment of a hacking email quarantine system, ▲strengthening DNS security for targeted institutions, ▲establishment and operation of a cybersecurity education system, ▲improvement of the work-sharing system functions, and ▲outsourced safety inspections for disaster preparedness of the computer network. The total budget required for these projects in 2026 amounts to 2.19 billion won.

Even for the 'replacement of outdated security monitoring equipment' project, which has received partial funding, only 661 million won out of the total required 1.26 billion won has been secured, which is roughly half.

As a result, out of the 11 hacking response projects at the ministry, only five have received proper budget allocations.

The Cybersecurity Center of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism oversees information security not only for the ministry headquarters but also for 118 affiliated organizations.

However, due to budget shortfalls, a wide range of institutions remain exposed to the risks of cyberattacks.

In fact, from 2021 to July this year, there were 18,624 cyberattacks targeting the ministry and its affiliated organizations, with incidents such as server outages and personal information leaks occurring almost every year.

The shortage of personnel dedicated to hacking response has also been found to be severe.

The total number of personnel handling hacking response at the ministry and its affiliated organizations is only 15, while an additional 26 are needed. The staffing rate stands at just 36.5%. Furthermore, 14 out of 18 organizations do not have a single dedicated staff member.

The National Library of Korea had its website server paralyzed by a DDoS attack last year, and the National Gugak Center has suffered 360 cyberattacks over the past five years but has yet to secure professional personnel.

Assemblyman Park Suhyun stated, "Despite growing public anxiety over recent telecom hacking incidents and personal information leaks, the ministry continues to neglect both budget and staffing. To respond to the more than 3,000 hacking attacks that occur each year, the security system must be fundamentally strengthened."

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