According to local media, there are growing calls for the Korean government to set up a cybersecurity control center, following a series of cyber attacks and big data violations that have affected mobile network operators and large financial companies in recent times.
According to them, the current response system is dispersed between many agencies, slowing down the response to cybersecurity incidents. Experts call for the establishment of a single coordination agency to strengthen governance.
Cyber attacks targeting Korean companies have increased in recent months. Last August, attackers broke into Korean financial services company Lotte Card, which issues credit and debit cards, from July 22 to August.
The case leaked about 200 GB of data and is believed to have affected about 3 million customers. The incident was not discovered for about 17 days, until the company discovered it on August 31.
In addition, KT mobile network has suffered a series of illegal mobile payment incidents, while competitor SK Telecom also suffered data breaches affecting 25 million users in April 2025. Financial firms Seoul Guarantee Insurance (SGI) and welcome Financial Group were also attacked with malware for blackmail.
According to data from the Korea Security and Internet Agency (KISA), the total number of data breaches reported by companies from January to August this year was 1,501. This figure is almost equal to 1,887 cases reported in 2024.
Despite the growing threats, experts say South Korea still lacks a government-level cybersecurity control center to respond appropriately.
Currently, Korea's corporate cybersecurity monitoring and response agency is divided between the Ministry of Science and Information Technology, the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) and KISA. Public incidents are handled by the National Cyber Security Center, while financial issues are handled separately by the Financial Security Institute (FSI).
Experts say that there should be specialized agencies to specialize in handling special cases, but also call for the establishment of a coordinating agency to supervise them.
In response to the recent surge in cyber attacks, the National Security Agency under the Office of the President of South Korea has stepped in to strengthen defense and promote inter-sectoral efforts to connect multiple agencies together in a coordinated response of the entire government.
