NIS asks 2,100 public institutions to conduct emergency cybersecurity checks

SEOUL, Nov. 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's spy agency has asked 2,100 public institutions to conduct emergency cybersecurity inspections following a series of cyberattacks on financial firms that resulted in customer data breaches, government sources said Tuesday.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) has called on the central government agencies and local governments to carry out their own security checks based on a checklist, the sources said.

Separately, the NIS plans to conduct its own vulnerability assessments of critical information and communications infrastructure in the public sector under its jurisdiction, the sources said. The assessments are expected to be completed by mid-November.

Local financial institutions, including banks, savings banks and insurance companies, were hit by a series of cyberattacks last month, exposing about 100,000 cases of personal information across the industry, including email addresses, names and phone numbers.

The NIS has called for particular attention to be paid to the management of potential cyberattack entry points, the operation of security monitoring systems and the application of security patches.

Separately, the agency is conducting direct vulnerability assessments of internet-facing systems at public-sector facilities designated as critical information and communications infrastructure.