Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) apologizes for personal information exposure on Information Disclosure Portal; suspends original document downloads

[Financial News]  
After reports that sensitive personal information, including resident registration numbers and cancer diagnosis certificates, had been exposed in documents published on the government’s Information Disclosure Portal, the government decided to temporarily suspend downloads of original documents and conduct a comprehensive audit of all public institutions to determine whether personal information had been exposed.
The government plans to introduce new software to filter personal information and strengthen its management from the document-drafting stage at public institutions.
On the 5th, MOIS said, “We sincerely regret causing concern among the public after personal information was exposed in some documents on the Information Disclosure Portal,” making the announcement.
The Information Disclosure Portal is the government’s official system through which members of the public can request information from public institutions or view documents produced by them. Documents such as approvals prepared by public institutions in the course of their work are also subject to disclosure. It was reported that, as documents related to civil servants’ overseas business trips and sick leave approvals were also made public, personal information contained in attached flight tickets and medical certificates was exposed to the public.
When public institutions disclose documents, they must redact personal information that is not subject to disclosure, such as resident registration numbers. In this case, however, it appears that personal information in approval documents and attachments produced in the course of official business was made public without being properly filtered out.
MOIS first temporarily suspended downloads of original documents from the Information Disclosure Portal to prevent further exposure of personal information. It also instructed all public institutions to conduct a comprehensive audit of documents already made public to check whether personal information had been exposed.
The government will also pursue technical measures to block personal information from being exposed. It plans to overhaul the Information Disclosure Portal’s existing personal information filtering system and introduce new filtering software to improve the system so that personal information is filtered out during the document disclosure process.
In particular, the government decided to work with relevant agencies to strengthen training for staff in charge and monitoring, so that personal information is not included from the document production stage at public institutions. The aim is to reduce the risk of exposure not only when documents are disclosed, but also during their drafting and management.
MOIS said, “We will strengthen the system for checking and managing personal information and work continuously with relevant agencies to ensure that such incidents do not recur.”

[email protected] Lee Bomi Reporter