The government urged vigilance over hacking attempts targeting domestic medical and education institutions.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) said on Jan. 7 they recently identified a trend in which an unidentified hacking group stole and sold internal data from domestic medical and education institutions and online shopping malls through a hacking forum.

The ministry said, "Serial hacking is occurring, especially with small websites as key targets." It urged stronger security-check activities to prevent further cyberattacks and the spread of damage.

The ministry and KISA said they immediately shared signs of intrusions involving domestic victim institutions and companies that were identified on hacking forums from December through Jan. 5. They also said they guided entities to report incidents to KISA if a breach is confirmed so they can receive technical support for cause analysis and measures to prevent recurrence.

On Jan. 6, they posted a security notice on the Protect Korea website titled, "Request for stronger corporate security due to an increase in recent security incidents," to prevent damage such as additional information theft. They also asked CISOs and C-TAS member companies to strengthen security checks and vulnerability remediation.

The ministry and KISA plan to strengthen monitoring of illegal information distribution on the dark web and hacking forums. They also plan to support technical assistance and the development of measures to prevent recurrence for companies hit by security incidents.