Science & Tech · Cybersecurity · 2 hrs ago
South Korea pauses public document downloads after personal data exposure
Some documents on South Korea’s public information portal exposed personal data belonging to public officials and private citizens.
The information reportedly included national ID and passport numbers, medical diagnoses, travel documents and QR codes.
Government agencies are responsible for hiding personal details or restricting access before publishing documents, but some appear to have set documents up incorrectly.
The Interior Ministry has temporarily stopped downloads of original documents while it investigates.
It has ordered every public institution to check its published documents, and says it knows of no follow-up harm so far.
The ministry plans to improve the portal’s privacy filters and strengthen staff training and monitoring to help prevent another exposure.
South Korea’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety temporarily halted downloads of original documents from its information-disclosure portal after personal data was found in some public records.
The exposed information reportedly included resident registration numbers, passport numbers and disease diagnoses.
The ministry ordered all public institutions to inspect their public documents for personal information.
It said the exposure appeared to result from incorrect document settings that failed to hide or restrict sensitive information.
The ministry plans to improve the portal’s filtering systems and strengthen training and monitoring.
- Who
- South Korea’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety and public institutions.
- What
- Downloads of original documents from the information-disclosure portal were temporarily halted after personal information was exposed in some documents.
- When
- November 5, 2026.
- Where
- South Korea’s information-disclosure portal.
- Why
- Some documents appear to have been set up without measures to hide personal information or restrict access.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The ministry said personal information had been exposed in some public documents on the portal and temporarily suspended downloads of original documents.
The ministry ordered all public institutions to inspect their public documents for personal information.
- Portal
- South Korea’s information-disclosure portal
- Exposed data
- Resident registration numbers, passport numbers and disease diagnoses
- Download suspension
- Downloads of original documents were temporarily halted
- Review
- All public institutions were ordered to inspect public documents
- Planned improvements
- The ministry plans to improve personal-information filtering and introduce new filtering software
1 source
What people are saying
We are sorry for causing concern to the public because personal information was exposed in some documents on the portal.
Downloads of original information on the portal have been temporarily suspended.