Ministry of SMEs and Startups Reports Data Breach Affecting 5,000 'Startup for All' Participants

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced today (June 18) that the personal information of 5,000 successful applicants for the 'Startup for All' project has been leaked.

According to the Ministry, an unauthorized attempt to access private information regarding the project's successful applicants was detected on June 15.

The investigation revealed that not only personal information, such as the applicants' email addresses, but also summaries of their project ideas and evaluation comments were compromised.

However, the investigation found that other personal information, such as the applicants' names and mobile phone numbers, was not leaked.

The Ministry explained that the detailed project ideas were neither accessed nor leaked.

Immediately upon becoming aware of the incident, the Ministry blocked the unauthorized access path and initiated an emergency security inspection of the entire system.

While currently verifying whether any additional data has been leaked, the Ministry notified the affected individuals of the breach individually at noon today and subsequently reported the incident to the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA).

The Ministry emphasized, "We will promptly implement all necessary measures to protect the victims and prevent further damage," adding, "We will strengthen our personal information protection and security management systems."


(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.