The Seoul city government said on the 24th that it will promulgate and enforce a local government ordinance on cybersecurity starting on the 29th.
The local government ordinance is aimed at responding to rising cyberthreats such as hacking. According to the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA), the number of reports of private-sector cyber incidents in the first half of this year was 1,034, up 15% from the same period a year earlier.
Public institutions' computer networks are also becoming targets of cyberthreats. If an internal administrative network at a public institution is hit by such a threat, a range of social services such as civil complaints, transportation and welfare could be interrupted. That leads to harm for citizens.
In response, the Seoul city government said it has established an institutional framework to respond to cyberthreats by enacting this local government ordinance. The local government ordinance focuses on systematically supporting the overall cybersecurity work of all Seoul city agencies. It also requires each agency to appoint a cybersecurity manager and a deputy manager, to strengthen agency-level accountability for cybersecurity.
The Seoul city government plans to check each agency's management level through annual, regular cybersecurity audits and information system inspections.
Gang Ok-hyeon, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Digital City Bureau, said, "We will provide uninterrupted digital services that citizens can trust."