S. Korea probes leak of president's passport details
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South Korea is investigating the leak of passport details belonging to President Lee Jae-myung and over 160 other officials, revealed a minister. Media reported on Monday that a file containing personal information, including passport numbers and birth dates, of the president and senior officials traveling abroad was uploaded to VirusTotal in June and remained accessible for nearly five months.
The purpose and identity of the uploader remain unknown. The Foreign Ministry promptly renewed passports of those affected and had the leaked information removed from the website, according to a news briefing.
The ministry is collaborating with the national police and other agencies to investigate the leak, treating it as a data leak rather than a hacking attack. They are examining computers and email accounts used for trip preparations. Presidential Chief of Staff Lim Kwang-hyun emphasized the need for a thorough investigation into the incident's cause, extent, and potential harm during an emergency meeting.
Lee called for the establishment of a powerful government-wide cybersecurity body to coordinate functions spread across various agencies, highlighting the current system's limitations in protecting critical systems. The existing security system, which focuses on inspections and post-incident responses, is evidently inadequate. Lee also proposed forming a cross-sector government-wide task force, involving both public and private sectors, to address these challenges.
Written by urgent.news from New Straits Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
