Seoul slashed cyber security staff by 80%

Despite increasing risks, Seoul has cut its cyber security personnel by almost 80 percent in the past couple of years, data showed yesterday.

The latest "distributed denial of service" hacking attack that wreaked havoc on major government and private websites in Korea has sounded the alarm over cyber security in one of the world`s most wired nations.

Although an increase in internet use in both public and private sectors has raised cyber security threats, the government slashed its number of officials handling cyber security for the private sector by 80 percent in 2008.



Currently, seven officials at the Korea Communications Commission manage information security for the private sector. This is a sharp drop from the 33 information security experts at the Ministry of Information and Communication, the KCC`s predecessor. The incumbent administration cut the number of experts from 33 to nine when it launched the KCC in March 2008.

The Korea Information Security Agency, a body run by the KCC, has 40 cyber security experts - the same number it had at its launch in December 2003.

The budget available to build and manage information security infrastructure has been sharply reduced to 2.9 billion won this year, from 6.3 billion won in 2005, although the government has increased the total budget for information security for the private sector by around 10 percent for the past five years.

The country`s cyber security threats have been increasing, with internet usage rising.

The number of high-speed internet subscribers has almost doubled to 15.47 million, from 7.8 million in 2003. The value of e-commerce has also surged to 630 trillion won, from 10 trillion won during the same period.

Therefore, the KCC is considering boosting cyber security personnel at the KISA and giving tax incentives to companies which purchase information security solutions and equipment.

The government will also push for a swift parliamentary approval of a revision of the Information and Communications Networks Act, which it proposed in December to bolster cyber security.

(hjjin@heraldm.com)



By Jin Hyun-joo