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NIS elevates cyber threat alert to 'caution' in wake of data center fire

Published: 29 Sep. 2025, 19:14

South Korea's National Intelligence Service's logo [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) raised the national cyber threat alert level from "attention" to "caution" on Monday, following a fire at the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) that disrupted multiple government administrative systems.

The NIS issued the alert through the National Cyber Security Center at 6 p.m., citing the need to strengthen monitoring efforts to prevent cyberattacks that could exploit the current disruptions.

The alert comes in response to a fire on Friday at the NIRS data center in Daejeon, which caused widespread outages in government information systems. Authorities say enhanced monitoring is needed to minimize harm to the public and prevent malicious actors from taking advantage of the situation.

The NIS also cited the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, scheduled to be held in Gyeongju on Oct. 31, as another reason to bolster defenses against domestic and international cyber threats.

The agency directed all government offices to follow the response procedures outlined in the cyber crisis manual for the “caution” alert level. If any unusual activity, such as cyberattacks or network outages, is detected, the incidents must be immediately reported to the National Cyber Security Center and the National Security Office’s National Crisis Management Center.

The NIS further instructed affiliated and subordinate agencies to disseminate the alert and implement both technical and administrative security measures as prescribed by the official response protocols.

Concerns have been raised that cyberattacks could target vulnerable systems amid instability caused by the outage. A total of 600 government information systems were affected by the fire, and the government estimates it will take about four weeks to transfer the 96 systems that were completely destroyed to the NCIA’s center in Daegu.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JUNG SI-NAE [[email protected]]