Last Year's Nationwide Academic Assessment Test Scores Leaked... Police Launch Investigation

Nationwide Exam Scores Leaked on Telegram
Resident Registration Numbers and Phone Numbers Not Exposed

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Eunha] On the 19th, the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education requested a police investigation after a file containing the scores, names, and genders of students who took the nationwide joint academic achievement test held in November last year was leaked online.

According to the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education on the 19th, in the early morning, a netizen claimed on an internet community that they hacked the provincial education office's server and accessed the scores of the nationwide joint academic achievement test administered by the provincial education office in November last year. Subsequently, a file titled "2nd Year Individual Report Cards Complete" was distributed on the encrypted messenger application Telegram.

On the 24th, the 2022 academic year March National Joint Academic Achievement Test was conducted for 950,000 high school students from grades 1 to 3 nationwide. Students in grade 3 at Jamsin High School in Songpa-gu, Seoul, are filling out their answer sheets. This academic achievement test is being held simultaneously nationwide for the first time in three years since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo by Joint Press Corps

This file contains the test scores, affiliated schools, names, and genders of 2nd-year high school students who took the exam from 15 city and provincial education offices nationwide, excluding the Gyeongnam and Chungnam Provincial Offices of Education.

On the same day, the provincial education office received a notification from the Ministry of Education to inspect due to suspected hacking and took action. To prevent further leakage of personal information, the original file on the server was deleted. After verifying the leaked file, they requested an investigation into the hacking by the Cyber Investigation Team of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in the morning.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education stated, "It has been confirmed that the server did not contain sensitive personal information such as phone numbers or resident registration numbers," adding, "Measures have been taken to prevent additional information leakage, and we will actively cooperate with the police investigation." Approximately 300,000 students nationwide took this exam.