The Personal Information Protection Commission revealed that the amount of personal information compromised in data breaches of governmental agencies has increased nearly sixfold in the past two years.

Governmental data submitted to ruling Democratic Party(DP) Rep. Lee Jung-mun showed that the number of private assets, such as resident registration numbers, that were exposed in public sector digital attacks totaled 650-thousand in 2022, three-point-52 million in 2023 and three-point-91 million last year.

Twenty-three data breaches were reported in 2022, 41 in 2023, 104 in 2024 and 72 through July of this year. Authorities believe that 910-thousand pieces of personal information were exposed across those 72 incidents.

Public institutions, as classified under the Personal Information Protection Act, include the National Assembly, the Constitutional Court, the administrative unit of the National Election Commission and central administrative agencies.

While the on-year rise in reported cases is likely related to 2023 revisions to the Personal Information Protection Act mandating the reporting of all leaks of identifying information, Lee emphasized that the data still highlight the public sector's critical shortage of budget and personnel.