A string of hacking and personal data leakage incidents occurred this year, but the pace of corporations' information security investment and expansion of dedicated staff slowed.
According to the "2025 information security disclosure compliance status analysis" that the Ministry of Science and ICT released on the 30th, total information security investment by this year's 773 corporations subject to disclosure was 2.423 trillion won, up 14.3% from a year earlier. The number of dedicated personnel was 8,506, up 10.7%.
Since the information security disclosure system was mandated in 2022, investment and staffing have increased every year, but this year's growth rate was the lowest since the mandate. Some noted that the pace of private-sector investment is not keeping up with the surge in cyber incidents.
By industry, the average investment was highest in finance and insurance at 8.5 billion won, followed by information and communications (6.2 billion won) and wholesale and retail (3.2 billion won). In contrast, business facilities management and rental services and health and welfare services saw investment decline from a year earlier.
The size of dedicated personnel was highest in information and communications at an average of 25.4 people, followed by finance and insurance (22.8) and wholesale and retail (9.8). However, some service sectors saw a slight decrease in headcount.
The number of corporations disclosing information security steadily increased from 658 in 2022, the first year of the system, to 718 in 2024 and 773 this year. The government plans to use this data to check the overall security level across industries and to steer corporations' information security investments toward practical management risk control.
An official at the Ministry of Science and ICT said, "Information security disclosure should not be a mere formality but a chance for management to directly review and reset investment priorities," adding, "We will also pursue institutional support to back corporations' voluntary security investments."