South Korea is world-famous for its blazing-fast web, near-universal broadband protection, and as a pacesetter in digital innovation, internet hosting world tech manufacturers like Hyundai, LG, and Samsung. However this very success has made the nation a primary goal for hackers and uncovered how fragile its cybersecurity defenses stay.
The nation is reeling from a string of high-profile hacks, affecting bank card firms, telecoms, tech startups, and authorities businesses, impacting huge swathes of the South Korean inhabitants. In every case, ministries and regulators appeared to scramble in parallel, typically deferring to at least one one other fairly than transferring in unison.
Critics argue that South Korea’s cyber defenses are hindered by a fragmented system of presidency ministries and businesses, usually leading to sluggish and uncoordinated responses, per native media stories.
With no clear authorities company appearing as “first responder” following a cyberattack, the nation’s cyber defenses are struggling to maintain tempo with its digital ambitions.
“The federal government’s strategy to cybersecurity stays largely reactive, treating it as a disaster administration subject fairly than as essential nationwide infrastructure,” Brian Pak, the chief govt of Seoul-based cybersecurity agency Theori, instructed TechCrunch.
Pak, who additionally serves as an advisor to SK Telecom’s mum or dad firm’s particular committee on cybersecurity improvements, instructed TechCrunch that as a result of authorities businesses tasked with cybersecurity work in silos, creating digital defenses and coaching expert employees usually get ignored.
The nation can also be going through a extreme scarcity of expert cybersecurity specialists.
“[That’s] primarily as a result of the present strategy has held again workforce improvement. This lack of expertise creates a vicious cycle. With out sufficient experience, it’s unimaginable to construct and preserve the proactive defenses wanted to remain forward of threats,” Pak continued.
Political impasse has fostered a behavior of looking for fast, apparent “fast fixes” after every disaster, stated Pak, all of the whereas the more difficult, long-term work of constructing digital resilience continues to be sidelined.
This yr alone, there was a serious cybersecurity incident in South Korea nearly each month, additional mounting considerations over the resilience of South Korea’s digital infrastructure.
January 2025
- GS Retail, the operator of comfort shops and grocery markets throughout South Korea, confirmed an information breach that uncovered the private particulars of about 90,000 prospects after its web site was attacked between December 27 and January 4. The stolen data included names, beginning dates, contact particulars, addresses, and e mail addresses.
February 2025
April and Could 2025
- South Korea’s part-time job platform Albamon was hit by a hacking assault on April 30. The breach uncovered the resumes of greater than 20,000 customers, together with names, telephone numbers, and e mail addresses.
- In April, South Korea’s telecom large SK Telecom was hit by a serious cyberattack. Hackers stole the private knowledge of about 23 million prospects — practically half the nation’s inhabitants. A lot of the aftermath of the cyberattack lasted by means of Could, wherein hundreds of thousands of shoppers have been provided a brand new SIM card following the breach.
June 2025
- Yes24, South Korea’s on-line ticketing and retail platform, was hit by a ransomware assault on June 9, which knocked its providers offline. The disruption lasted for about 4 days, with the corporate again on-line by mid-June.
July 2025
- In July, the North Korea-linked Kimsuky group launched a cyberattack on South Korean organizations, together with a defense-related establishment, this time utilizing AI-generated deepfake photos.
- A North Korea-backed hacking group, Kimsuky, used AI-generated deepfake photos in a July spear-phishing try in opposition to a South Korean army group, in accordance with Genians Safety Middle. The group has additionally focused different South Korean establishments.
- Seoul Assure Insurance coverage (SGI), a Korean monetary establishment, was hit by a ransomware assault round July 14, which disrupted its core methods. The incident knocked key providers offline, together with the issuing and verification of ensures, leaving prospects in limbo.
August 2025
- Yes24 confronted a second ransomware assault in August 2025, which took its web site and providers offline for a number of hours.
- Hackers broke into South Korean monetary providers firm Lotte Card, which points credit score and debit playing cards, between July 22 and August. The breach uncovered round 200GB of information and is believed to have affected roughly 3 million prospects. The breach remained unnoticed for roughly 17 days, till the corporate found it on August 31.
- Welcome Monetary: In August 2025, Welrix F&I, a lending arm of Welcome Monetary Group, was hit by a ransomware assault. A Russian-linked hacking group claimed it stole over a terabyte of inside information, together with delicate buyer knowledge, and even leaked samples on the darkish net.
- North Korea-linked hackers, believed to be the Kimsuky group, have been spying on international embassies in South Korea for months by disguising their assaults as routine diplomatic emails. In keeping with Trellix, the marketing campaign has been lively since March and has focused not less than 19 embassies and international ministries in South Korea.
September 2025
- KT, certainly one of South Korea’s largest telecom operators, has reported a cyber breach that uncovered subscriber knowledge from greater than 5,500 prospects. The assault was linked to unlawful “faux base stations” that tapped into KT’s community, enabling hackers to intercept cell visitors, steal data like IMSI, IMEI, and telephone numbers, and even make unauthorized micro-payments.
In gentle of the latest surge in hacking incidents, the South Korean Presidential Workplace’s Nationwide Safety is stepping in to tighten defenses, pushing for a cross-ministerial effort that brings a number of businesses collectively in a coordinated, whole-of-government response.
In September 2025, the Nationwide Safety Workplace introduced that it will implement “complete” cyber measures by means of an interagency plan, led by the South Korean president’s workplace. Regulators additionally signaled a authorized change giving the federal government energy to launch probes on the first signal of hacking — even when firms haven’t filed a report. Each steps intention to handle the shortage of a primary responder that has lengthy hindered South Korea’s cyber defenses.
However South Korea’s fragmented system leaves accountability weak, putting all authority in a presidential “management tower” might threat “politicization” and overreach, in accordance with Pak.
A greater path could also be steadiness: a central physique to set technique and coordinate crises, paired with unbiased oversight to maintain energy in verify. In a hybrid mannequin, professional businesses like KISA would nonetheless deal with the technical work — simply with extra easy guidelines and accountability, Pak instructed TechCrunch.
When reached for remark, a spokesperson for the South Korea’s Ministry of Science in ICT stated the ministry, with KISA and different related businesses, is “dedicated to addressing more and more refined and superior cyber threats.”
“We proceed to work diligently to reduce potential hurt to Korean companies and most of the people,” the spokesperson added.
This text was initially revealed on September 30.
