Personal Information Protection Commission Conducts Privacy Inspections in Five Major Public Sector Areas

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] The Personal Information Protection Commission announced on the 13th that it will conduct a joint inspection with related ministries on the personal information status of major public institutions to strengthen the level of personal information protection in the public sector.

This is to prevent damage caused by leakage or misuse of personal information in public institutions that handle large-scale sensitive personal information of the public, and to enhance the overall level of personal information protection in the public sector.

The Personal Information Protection Commission comprehensively considered the scale of personal information processing, sensitivity, and impact, and selected five major areas: ▲security of major public institution websites (20), ▲local governments (20), ▲medical and welfare (10), ▲employment (10), and ▲real estate (1).

Regarding the security of major public institution websites, inspections will be conducted on ▲whether website security measures (HTTPS) are applied, ▲security deficiencies in password hint retrieval functions, and ▲whether personal information is exposed on the website. For local governments, it will be checked whether personal information is included in various notices, mailings, and text messages, whether documents not destroyed are left in garbage sites, and whether legal compliance is observed in the civil complaint handling process.

In the medical and welfare sector, inspections will be conducted by the first half of the year on unauthorized access or misuse of personal information in operating systems and whether personal information is permanently preserved without legal grounds. In the employment sector, inspections will be conducted on whether personal information leakage occurs during employment-related business processes.

Yoon Jong-in, Chairman of the Personal Information Protection Commission, stated, “Since public institutions handle large-scale sensitive personal information closely related to the lives of the people, a high level of personal information protection efforts is required,” and added, “We will continue to inspect the personal information processing status in major public sectors to ensure that the public’s personal information is safely collected and utilized.”