Unexplained 'Administrative Network Paralysis'... Restored but Concerns Over Flood of Civil Complaints Remain

Restored to Normal in Three Days, but Cause Unknown
Concerns of Repeated Paralysis Due to Flood of Complaints... Response Team Activated

The unprecedented government administrative network outage that caused a complete halt in civil service operations has been fully restored after three days. As of the morning of the 20th, civil documents are being issued normally across local governments nationwide. However, the government still has not identified the cause.

Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min visited the Cheongunhyoja-dong Community Service Center in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 19th to check the proper operation of local administrative computer services such as the Saeol Local Administrative Information System, the Resident Registration System, and the Happiness Connection. Photo by Ministry of the Interior and Safety

◆ Network Error Cause Remains 'Unclear' = According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the government’s online civil service platform 'Government24' was normalized as of the 20th, and the local government administrative network 'Saeol' was restored on the 19th.

The administrative network outage occurred on the 17th, but the government had not found a clear cause of the failure as of the morning of the 20th, three days later. The government currently suspects a problem with the network equipment connected to the Saeol authentication system. On the morning of the 17th, a failure occurred in the Administrative Electronic Signature Authentication Management Center (GPKI) system, which is used to access the Saeol administrative system. The system was restored and operating normally around noon that day, but at 1 p.m., the system failed again, causing a complete service outage. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety confirmed an abnormality in the network equipment (L4 switch, a device that distributes traffic to increase speed) and replaced this equipment on the 18th.

Seo Boram, Director of the Digital Government Office at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, said, "We have identified the equipment that caused the problem, but the specific cause of the error has not yet been confirmed," adding, "We are conducting a thorough investigation into which part inside the L4 switch equipment caused the issue." She further stated, "The equipment in question is not outdated, and the National Information Resources Service, which manages servers and network equipment for the administrative network, currently operates dozens of identical devices," and "No problems have occurred with other equipment."

The government considers the possibility of hacking to be low. Director Seo said, "Computer errors caused by hacking usually show abnormal signs first," and "This administrative network failure occurred without any special abnormal signs."

◆ Possibility of Additional Failures Due to Surge in Civil Service Requests = Concerns have been raised that a surge of civil service requests that were not processed since the 17th could cause additional government network failures. A Seoul community center official said on the morning of the 20th, "Since last Friday, only some documents using the Supreme Court administrative network, such as family relation certificates, could be issued, and documents using the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s administrative network were completely halted. We expect many civil petitioners to revisit today to obtain these documents."

Not only community centers but also financial institutions that use government certificates are busy. An employee at a Seoul bank branch said that day, "Because certificates from government offices were not issued on Friday, loan services and other tasks besides simple deposits and withdrawals were not properly conducted," adding, "The branch was much quieter than usual on Friday, so we expect related work to be concentrated now."

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety has formed the 'Local Administrative Network Service Failure Countermeasures Headquarters' led by Vice Minister Gogi-dong, deploying about 100 personnel from government officials and private companies to the field to prepare for possible additional administrative network failures. They also announced the formation of a 'Local Administrative Network Service Reform Task Force (TF)' involving private experts, government, local governments, and related agencies to establish comprehensive countermeasures.

In response to the network outage, the government has extended deadlines for civil petitions such as payments and reports processed at community centers, and for petitions requiring immediate processing such as those needing a confirmed date, they will retroactively apply the issuance date for cases received manually.