Seoul City Selected as Best Public Institution for Personal Information Management...First Metropolitan Government to Achieve Perfect Score

Continuous Personal Information Management Inspection and Improvement Efforts, 10-Point Increase Compared to Last Year
Establishment of AI Response System for Personal Information Leakage and Misuse, Strengthening Prevention Activities

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 25th, Seoul City announced that it received a perfect score of 100 points for the first time among metropolitan local governments nationwide in the public institution personal information management level diagnosis evaluation and was selected as the 'Best Institution.'

The public institution personal information management level diagnosis is conducted annually under the supervision of the Personal Information Protection Commission, evaluating 13 indicators and 25 items across three areas: personal information management system, protection measures, and breach response measures.

Last year, the diagnosis was conducted on a total of 779 public institutions, with average scores by institution type being 89.8 points for central administrative agencies, 86.7 points for metropolitan local governments, and 82.5 points for basic local governments.

Seoul City has continuously inspected personal information management practices and diagnosed and improved vulnerabilities. It scored 83.36 points in 2018, 90.34 points in 2019, and reached 100 points this year. The city designated the first Wednesday of every month as 'Personal Information Protection Day' to strengthen self-inspections of the main office and business sites, as well as periodic audits of access records to personal information processing systems. In response to the prolonged COVID-19 situation, it expanded non-face-to-face online personal information education and became the first metropolitan local government nationwide to obtain 'Information Security and Personal Information Protection (ISMS-P) certification' for three systems including the representative homepage, ensuring that citizens' personal information is safely protected and managed.

Additionally, this year, Seoul plans to pilot and operate an 'Intelligent Personal Information Detection and Response System' that applies artificial intelligence (AI) learning to detect and respond to abnormal activities such as personal information leaks and misuse. To protect the rights and interests of citizens suffering from personal information leaks, the city will also operate a leading 'Personal Information Deletion (e-Clean) Public Service' on internet portal sites and strengthen pioneering personal information protection activities.

Lee Won-mok, Director of Seoul City's Smart City Policy Division, said, "As we rapidly transition to a non-face-to-face, online digital society, the importance of personal information protection is increasing. We will do our best to further strengthen the personal information management system so that citizens can use administrative services with peace of mind."