The Ministry of SMEs and Startups is taking steps to address the fallout from a significant data breach affecting its startup audition platform, 'Everyone's Startup.' The ministry plans to gather feedback from the first-round successful applicants whose personal information was compromised and develop specific improvement measures.
On July 8, the ministry held a meeting at the Chungbuk Creative Economy Innovation Center for the first-round successful applicants whose data was leaked. During the meeting, mentoring organizations shared their progress and future plans, while the ministry provided updates on the first-round evaluation results and preparations for the second round. The operational organizations also proposed suggestions for improving the program based on challenges faced during implementation, and the first-round selected participants shared their feedback on the program's management.
This meeting marks the beginning of a nationwide tour across 17 cities and provinces, where the ministry will continue to engage with operational and mentoring organizations as well as selected participants to gather on-the-ground opinions and enhance 'Everyone's Startup' into a trusted entrepreneurship support platform.
Additionally, the ministry announced plans to conduct regional auditions and a national audition for the first-round successful applicants, aiming to select the final winner by the end of the year while committing to complete the remaining program schedule.
Deputy Minister Noh Yong-seok urged mentoring organizations to be reliable guides and partners to help entrepreneurs turn their potential into success.
However, the incident has raised concerns about security negligence within public institutions. It has been noted that the data breach was not due to external hacking but rather occurred when a partner company involved in the project was hacked or accessed the data improperly. Allegations have surfaced that warnings about technical vulnerabilities had been ignored for a month prior to the incident, leading to criticism directed at the ministry.
Last month, a data breach incident resulted in the exposure of personal information of 5,000 first-round successful applicants, effectively halting the second phase of the project. In response to the breach, the ministry has been operating a task force led by the deputy minister since June 21 to ensure a coordinated government response and to develop measures to prevent future occurrences.
As of June 25, the number of reports received by the 'Everyone's Startup' data breach support center was confirmed to be 54, with reports continuing to increase. A ministry official stated, 'We are continuously collecting reports without a deadline for submissions and will thoroughly verify the actual damages and specific scale of the reported cases before making them public.'
* This article has been translated by AI.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.