Report: Cyberattacks targeting South Korean state agencies intensify

South Korea has seen a sharp rise in cyber incidents targeting both public and private organizations, with hacking attempts against the Ministry of Health and Welfare and its subsidiaries increasing 166 times compared to the previous year, according to The Korea Herald.

Hacking attempts against the Health Ministry reached 56,208 as of August, compared with only 338 last year, noted data shown by Rebuilding Korea Party's Rep. Kim Sun-min. Moreover, the Korea Social Security Information Service also reported a 20-fold increase in hacking attempts from 3,314 in 2022 to 68,494 during the first eight months of 2024.

Data from the Personal Information Commission also revealed that apart from data theft-targeted attacks, breaches of personal information are also widespread in South Korea. Data showed that 3.91 million records had been illegally obtained from state-related organizations in 2024.

As of July this year, the tally stood at 912,000. The total number of undiscovered or undisclosed leaks remains unknown. Major companies have also been affected. Telecom operators KT and SK Telecom, along with credit card firm Lotte Card, have experienced large-scale breaches.