South Korea's Foreign Ministry Faces Near 100,000 Cyberattack Attempts in First Half of Year

In the first six months, cyber‑attack attempts targeting South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its affiliated agencies totaled 96,483, already surpassing the entire count for the previous year (about 73,700). Attacks on affiliated bodies were even higher, with the Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange and the Korea International Cooperation Agency accounting for roughly 70,000 and 10,000 attempts respectively.

The most common methods were server‑information‑leak attempts (49,602), server‑information‑collection attempts (18,852) and website‑hacking attempts (17,844). Network‑intrusion attempts rose sharply to 2,680, a 334‑fold increase from 2022. Hackers also diversified IP‑relay countries; Vietnam overtook the United States as the top relay destination.

A similar surge was reported against the Ministry of Unification and its agencies, with 3,580 attacks recorded up to mid‑May, exceeding 80 % of the previous year’s total. Lawmaker Kim Jun‑hwan warned that the rising cyber threat to diplomatic and security information demands immediate and comprehensive security strengthening.