Public Procurement Service leaks identity verification photos of 189 online evaluators

The Public Procurement Service announced on the 10th that identity verification photos of 189 evaluators who participated in online evaluations were leaked during the development of an artificial intelligence (AI) system.

This leak was not caused by external hacking, but occurred during the process of developing and testing an AI system to improve online evaluation work, when an internal employee uploaded a photo to verify the evaluator's identity to an externally generated AI service between July and October.

The Public Procurement Service explained that the target of the leak was 189 evaluators who participated in the online evaluation, and that the leaked items were limited to photos used to verify identity and prove the fairness of the evaluation.

The Public Procurement Service further added that it was found that the photos did not contain other personal information, such as names, and that unique identification information and financial information, such as resident registration numbers and account numbers, were not leaked.

On the 6th, when the Public Procurement Service finally confirmed the leak of photos of the evaluators, it immediately reported it to the Personal Information Protection Committee. Afterwards, it disclosed the leak on the Public Procurement Service website in accordance with the procedures stipulated by relevant laws and regulations, and is providing individual notification to all relevant evaluators.

A dedicated response team (TF) has been formed to investigate the leak and its spread, and an official request has been made to the generative AI service provider to delete the photo.

The Public Procurement Service plans to continue to check for additional damage and take necessary protective measures.

In addition, we plan to make every effort to prevent recurrence by improving the overall security system for AI use, such as blocking unauthorized transmission of personal information with externally generated AI and strengthening security training for all employees.

Baek Seung-bo, head of the Public Procurement Service, said, "We deeply apologize for failing to thoroughly protect the valuable photo information of the evaluation committee members," and added, "We will fully fulfill our responsibilities for damage relief and follow-up measures, and do our best to prevent similar incidents from recurring by fundamentally improving the information protection and security system."