South Korea has faced a wave of cybersecurity threats, with companies reporting more than 7,000 data breaches over the past six years. This surge highlights growing worries about the nation’s defenses, especially after recent hacks targeting telecom and financial companies.
From 2020 through last Sunday, authorities logged 7,198 cybersecurity incidents, according to data shared with Rep. Hwang Jung-a of the ruling Democratic Party. The numbers started at 603 cases in 2020 and edged up to 640 in 2021. Then they nearly doubled to 1,142 in 2022, reaching 1,277 in 2023, 1,887 so far in 2024, and 1,649 this year to date.
Small and medium-sized businesses bore the brunt, filing 5,907 reports—that’s 82% of the total. Mid-sized firms reported 592 cases, while big conglomerates had 242. Even nonprofits chipped in with 457 incidents.
System hacking topped the list at 4,354 cases, making up 60.5% of all threats. Malware infections and spreads followed at 20.9%, and DDoS attacks hit 18.6%. Drilling down, hacking made up just 41.4% of cases in 2020 but jumped to 72.8% last year and sits at 61.3% so far this year.
Adding to the concerns, a fresh mobile payment hack at KT Corp—the country’s second-largest telecom carrier—has spread further than first thought. What started in southwestern Seoul and parts of Gyeonggi Province now includes southern Seoul areas and Goyang, northwest of the capital, Rep. Hwang said, based on KT’s latest report to lawmakers.
KT updated its victim count to 362 on Thursday, up from an initial 278. “It would have helped the investigation if KT shared details on breach locations and times right away,” Hwang added. “I don’t get why they’re dribbling out the info bit by bit.”
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