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Cyberattacks put accountability standards under scrutiny
A South Korean lawmaker is calling for the government and private companies to face the same accountability standards after cyberattacks, citing a wide gap between penalties imposed on businesses and public institutions.
Rep. Choi Hyung-doo of the governing People Power Party raised the issue Wednesday as a member of the National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee. Choi, who represents a district in the southern city of Changwon, said hacking incidents should be investigated transparently and that officials should be disciplined when poor management contributes to a breach.
Private companies face steep fines
South Korea recorded 447 reports of personal information leaks last year, according to the country’s Personal Information Protection Commission. Hacking caused 276 of those breaches, or 62%.
SK Telecom was fined 134.79 billion won over a leak involving data stored on subscribers’ SIM cards. Cyberattacks have also affected widely used services operated by Coupang, Lotte Card and Tving, a major Korean streaming platform.
Attacks on government systems surge
Attempts to hack South Korean central government agencies rose from 80,554 in 2023 to a record 161,208 in 2024, according to the National Information Resources Service.
The country’s court computer network was exposed for more than two years to attackers believed to be linked to Lazarus, a North Korean hacking group. The attackers stole 1,014 gigabytes of data, but the court administration received a fine of 207 million won — a fraction of the penalty imposed on SK Telecom.
Choi said authorities should distinguish between damage caused solely by an outside attack and breaches worsened by management failures. He argued that public agencies should not escape scrutiny by describing themselves only as victims while private companies are expected to maintain the highest levels of cybersecurity.
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