The project’s goal is to find cases of illegally collected or mishandled personal information among domestic and foreign web portals, SNS, P2P, webhard services, Youtube, Google, and so on. (image: Kobiz Media / Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Jan. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — The Korean Government is set to launch a 1.4 billion won (US$ 1.3 million) project to delete Korean citizens’ exposed personal information, said the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) on January 14.
The project’s goal is to find cases of illegally collected or mishandled personal information among domestic and foreign web portals, SNS, P2P, webhard services, Youtube, Google, and so on. The KISA project operators will manually find identity numbers, credit card numbers, passport numbers, bank account numbers and alien registration numbers exposed on the web in illegal or unsecure ways, using more than 300 keywords.
KISA will then demand that the individuals in charge of the site delete the information, or face appropriate security measures. If the measures are not taken, KISA will levy fines of up to 30 million won (US$ 27,876).
The project is specifically targeting small websites and internet cafes operating with low security measures, and is expected to be an expensive and time-consuming endeavor since it will be undertaken manually.
KISA will consistently check up on improvements in the way offenders’ handle collected personal information. KISA’s goal is to find more than 94 percent of exposed personal information on Korean websites, and report cases of illegal information collection or storage of P2P and webhard service websites to the prosecution offices. KISA will also establish a hotline system with the main web portals and hosting service companies for a faster and more effective detection of exposed information.
KISA will also elaborate with foreign agencies such as the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team/Coordination Center of China (CNCERT) to detect and delete Korean citizens’ exposed personal information online in Chinese speaking countries.
By Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
