South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) said on Saturday they will recruit companies from April 6 to 24 to participate in the "2026 first-half cyber crisis response drill".

The ministry and KISA run cyber crisis response drills each year in the first and second halves to raise companies' security awareness and strengthen response capabilities against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. This drill is set to run for two weeks from May 11 to 22. It will cover four areas: hacking emails, DDoS training, simulated penetration and vulnerability detection and response.

After the drill, participating companies will be provided with tailored reports on their results and response guides by field. The ministry plans to support companies so they can identify and address security vulnerabilities in advance on their own. It will hold a debriefing session in June to share analysis results and best practices from the first-half drill. Companies with strong performance will receive citations from the deputy prime minister who also serves as science minister and awards from the KISA president.

Applications for the first-half drill can be submitted through KISA's Protectorna website. Anyone can participate regardless of company size or industry.

Lim Jeong-gyu (임정규), director general for information security network policy at the ministry, said a single incident can have an impact big enough to threaten a company's survival, and he hopes the drill will serve as an opportunity for companies to check their security systems and build incident response capabilities.