During the rollout of Everyone's Startup, a startup program led by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, participants' personal information was leaked. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) said it will take necessary steps to protect victims and prevent additional harm.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) said in a statement on the 18th, "At 9 a.m. on the 5th, after the personal profiles of 5,000 successful applicants to the Everyone's Startup project were made public, attempts to access nonpublic information were detected."
It added, "Around 3 p.m. that day, we learned of the matter through a user inquiry posted on the Everyone's Startup platform, and around 4 p.m. we blocked the unauthorized access path," adding, "Through a total of nine IPs, email addresses, idea summaries, and review comments were leaked. There were no cases where real names of challengers, mobile phone numbers, or other personal information, or detailed ideas such as challenge applications, were viewed or leaked."
Earlier, allegations were raised that some personal information of Everyone's Startup participants—drawn from about 63,000 applicants—had been leaked. The Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development (KISED), which oversees Everyone's Startup, issued an official apology that day, saying, "Customer personal information was leaked through an unauthorized path."
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) explained, "We are conducting an emergency security inspection of the entire system and are also checking whether there were additional leaks and how the information may have been used."
It added, "In cooperation with external expert agencies, including the National Cyber Security Center, we are conducting an incident investigation and analysis and a security inspection across the entire system," adding, "Based on the investigation results, we will identify the exact cause and strengthen the personal information management system to prevent similar cases from recurring."