South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission is pushing a public-private cooperation campaign to strengthen IP camera security with related government agencies, local governments and major professional groups. The campaign follows measures to upgrade the IP camera security management system announced jointly by relevant ministries in December last year.

The commission will prepare an "IP camera inspection checklist" that small businesses and others can carry out through the campaign.

Working with related ministries, including the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, as well as local governments and major professional groups, it will promote voluntary inspections and implementation of security measures for IP cameras at public facilities, medical institutions and small businesses such as gyms and karaoke rooms.

The commission recommended that to prevent IP camera hacking and strengthen security, users must change the initial user account ID and password when using an IP camera. It also urged regular changes afterwards to ensure safety. It stressed that passwords should be changed to at least 8 characters, mixing three types among letters, special characters and numbers so others cannot easily guess them.

It called for restricting internet access for IP cameras in places within businesses such as hospitals and clinics, Pilates studios, yoga studios, waxing shops, skincare salons and massage shops where body exposure is clearly expected, so outsiders cannot access footage of people using those places. It added that when buying an IP camera, there is a need to check whether the product has information security-related certification from a domestic specialist institution and choose a safer product.

The commission plans to continue publicity and guidance, working with related ministries and local governments, to widely raise awareness of IP camera risks at all public facilities, businesses and households and help security measures such as password changes become established.

Yang Cheong-sam (양청삼), secretary-general of the commission, said, "IP cameras are conveniently used in people's daily lives, but video leaks can lead to results that seriously infringe privacy." He added, "Most damage can be prevented just by regularly changing user account IDs and passwords, so I strongly urge you to implement security measures."