One year after a fire at the Daejeon Center of the National Information Resources Service caused massive disruptions to government computer networks, the government is strengthening its disaster recovery system to restore core administrative information systems tied directly to people's daily lives within one hour of a disaster.

The government plans to reclassify all 15,000-plus public information systems according to their importance, and prioritize completing disaster recovery systems (DR) for 13 core systems, including Safety Dimdolsan and resident registration, by the first half of next year.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety held a briefing at the Government Complex-Seoul today and announced the "Current Status and Future Plans for Strengthening Information System Stability" containing these measures.

This measure is a follow-up to the national information system stability enhancement measures that have been pursued following the fire at the Daejeon Center of the National Information Resources Service on September 26 of last year.

  The Ministry of the Interior and Safety enacted the "Notice on the Stability of Information Systems of Administrative and Public Agencies" last April and changed the criteria for calculating information system grades from being centered on the "number of users" to being centered on the "impact on people's daily lives."

This was to address the problem where some important systems related to public life, safety, and property were classified into lower grades at the time of the fire.

Accordingly, all 15,000-plus public information systems nationwide were completely reclassified into grades A1 to A4 by August.

The target disaster recovery times by grade are within 1 hour for A1, 3 to 12 hours for A2, 1 to 5 days for A3, and within 3 weeks for A4.

In particular, the highest grade, A1, applies a dual-operation method that places a secondary system performing the same functions as the primary system in a different data center to recover services within one hour in the event of a disaster.

Establishment of disaster recovery systems, recovery drills, and data backup and dispersion have also been made mandatory according to grades.

Each agency establishes and implements a three-year disaster management plan and an annual implementation plan, and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety inspects the implementation status every year.

Disaster recovery systems (DR) will also be expanded in phases.

An informatization strategy plan is being established targeting 97 systems of grades A1 and A2 operated at the Daejeon Center of the National Information Resources Service.

Among them, 13 high-importance systems, including Safety Dimdolsan, dBRAIN, postal information, resident registration, 119 emergency smart system, and long-term tissue and blood management, are scheduled to initiate DR construction this month and complete it by the first half of next year.

For the 121 systems of grades A1 to A3 at the Daejeon Center excluding these 13, the ministry plans to first establish a system for real-time data replication to the Gongju Center by the first half of next year, and then equip the parts necessary for server operation by 2028.

The systems of grades A1 to A3 at the Gwangju and Daegu centers will also first establish data replication systems by 2027, and additionally equip parts necessary for server operation thereafter.

  The Ministry of the Interior and Safety revised related notices in February of this year to specify criteria for separating lithium batteries from computer equipment and uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), and strengthened management standards such as battery status monitoring and compliance with service life.

As a result of a comprehensive inspection of 1,459 information system operation facilities of administrative and public agencies from January to March of this year, 56 facilities where lithium batteries were not separated according to standards were identified.

The ministry recommended improvements to those facilities last May and will track and manage the implementation status until measures are completed.

Facilities that are difficult to improve directly due to space or building structure will be supported in moving to private clouds.

The Daejeon Center of the National Information Resources Service, which has aging issues, will be closed by 2030 as originally planned.

The ministry selected a KT consortium as the business entity to establish the Information Strategy Planning (ISP) for the National Information Resources Service Innovation Plan last July and plans to prepare alternative center and system relocation plans by the first quarter of next year.

This year, 50 systems are being transferred to private clouds first, and the targets for relocation will be expanded starting next year.

Minister of the Interior and Safety Yunho said, "Based on the follow-up measures over the past year, we will thoroughly prepare in terms of both systems and institutions so that national disasters like the fire at the National Information Resources Service will never happen again."

(Photo: Yonhap News)