Han Sung-sook Apologizes, But Participants Remain Anxious Over Data Breach

[Anchor]

A data breach has occurred involving the personal information of 5,000 successful applicants in the government-led startup project, "Startup for All." Han Sung-sook, the nominee for Prime Minister and current Minister of SMEs and Startups, has issued an apology.

Reporter Choi Seung-hun has the story.

[Reporter]

Minister of SMEs and Startups Han Sung-sook, who is currently preparing for her Prime Minister confirmation hearing, bowed her head on her way to work.

[Han Sung-sook / Prime Minister Nominee and Minister of SMEs and Startups: I sincerely apologize to the users who have experienced worry and inconvenience due to the personal information leak on the 'Startup for All' platform.]

She apologized in her capacity as the head of the ministry responsible for "Startup for All," a project aimed at fostering startup talent, after the personal data of 5,000 successful applicants was exposed.

Previously, on June 15, the basic information of the successful applicants was made public online. On the same day, their private email addresses, summaries of their business ideas, and evaluation comments were also leaked.

The Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development, which manages personal information for "Startup for All," stated in its breach report that the incident was not caused by an external cyberattack, but by an AI solution company that provides support to the applicants.

It was found that the company used an abnormal data retrieval method to extract information that had been set to private within the system.

However, the company reportedly claims that its intention was only to send promotional emails to the successful applicants and that it only used the email addresses that were already public.

[Noh Yong-seok / First Vice Minister of SMEs and Startups: The National Intelligence Service investigation confirmed that nine IP addresses made abnormal API calls (data requests). Detailed investigations into the specific locations and the business entities involved are currently underway.]

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups has decided to assist the 5,000 affected applicants by providing free registration for certificates that verify their ownership of the business ideas. For those who have already registered their businesses, the ministry will also support the "technology escrow" service, which securely stores confidential materials, for one year.

However, the anxiety among the victims has not subsided.

['Startup for All' Participant: The data has already been leaked, so I'm not sure if these protection measures have much meaning. If a company with more capital than me creates my idea, my opportunity to start a business will be gone.]

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to postpone the recruitment for the second cohort of "Startup for All," which was scheduled for next month, and focus on preventing the misuse of the leaked ideas.

(Video reporting: Jo Chun-dong | Video editing: Park Na-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.