Up to 10,000 Records of Current and Former Korean Diplomats Leaked in Unprecedented Korea National Diplomatic Academy Hacking Incident (Comprehensive)

Korea National Diplomatic Academy's Online Education System Exposed to Cyberattacks for Nearly 10 Months

Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "Significant Volume of Information Leaked"

Five Months After Discovery, Authorities Still Unable to Identif

A hacking incident has resulted in the leak of up to 10,000 items of personal information from current and former South Korean diplomats, as well as public officials from various government ministries dispatched to diplomatic missions abroad—including their email addresses. This breach was caused by the National Diplomatic Academy's online education system being left completely exposed to cyberattacks for ten months. Intelligence authorities are currently investigating, and are considering the possibility that a North Korea-linked hacker group may have been involved.

Yonhap News

On July 21, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official told reporters at the Government Complex Seoul, "It has been determined that the (National Diplomatic Academy online education system) server was taken over in April to May last year, and was accessed through abnormal channels until early February this year. The system contains about 10,000 data entries, including information on retired staff."

The official added, "Information stored in the system included records on foreign service officials affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and resident diplomats, administrative staff working at overseas missions, and other personnel. This is an issue that is not unrelated to national security," he cautioned. However, he clarified, "We have confirmed that private data such as photos, resident registration numbers, mobile phone numbers, and home addresses were not stored in the compromised system server."

The National Diplomatic Academy's online education system, which suffered this hacking incident, was created in 2022 to facilitate online education during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an unknown attacker repeatedly accessed the system from April or May last year until February this year. The hacking went on for approximately ten months.

The academy offers a wide range of education programs, from regular training courses for prospective diplomats to programs for overseas heads of mission, training for new section chiefs, division directors, and assistant directors at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as foreign language courses. Because nearly all current and former South Korean diplomats are covered by these programs, the volume of information leaked is believed to be extremely large. However, it is reported that this system was not connected to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' internal work network.

The Ministry took emergency measures to block the system immediately after detecting the hack, and began a joint investigation with intelligence agencies. However, even after about five months, neither the full extent of the breach nor the identity of the perpetrator has been identified. A foreign ministry official stated, "So far, there is insufficient technical evidence to conclusively identify the attacker." Nonetheless, he also said that the possibility of North Korean involvement "has not been ruled out." Regarding whether a formal investigation request is necessary, he explained, "We have been conducting an internal investigation together with relevant agencies," and "internally, we are assessing all aspects comprehensively."

The foreign ministry official said that current diplomats and public officials affected by the data leak were notified of the incident only the previous day, through a notice on the Ministry's website. In other words, it took about five months after the system breach was discovered by relevant authorities in February for those affected to be officially informed. Regarding the delay in notification, the official explained, "This is an unprecedented incident, and we believed it was not unrelated to national security."

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