South Korea diplomatic academy hack breaches up to 10,000 officials' data

South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the online education platform of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy was compromised for roughly ten months, from April 2025 to February 2026. Unidentified attackers exploited a previously unknown zero‑day vulnerability and misconfigured security settings to gain and retain access to the server.

The breach is believed to have exposed personal details of between 6,000 and 10,000 current and former diplomats, senior officials and other government staff. Information reportedly included names, user IDs, email addresses and encrypted passwords, though more sensitive data such as resident registration numbers and phone numbers were not stored on the system.

Authorities have not yet identified the perpetrators. The ministry said there is “insufficient technical evidence” to attribute the attack, but it is not ruling out foreign‑state‑backed groups, including those linked to North Korea. No misuse of the leaked data has been confirmed. The ministry has shut down the system, is conducting a full investigation and plans to strengthen internal cybersecurity measures.