80,000 Ewha Womans University Graduates' Personal Information Breached... Guardian Information Also Leaked

"Sorry for causing concern"
"Will thoroughly prepare measures to prevent recurrence"

The integrated information system managing academic information at Ewha Womans University was hacked, resulting in the leakage of personal information of graduates.

On the 6th, Ewha Womans University posted a "Notice and Apology Regarding Personal Information Leakage" on its official website to inform about the situation. According to the post, the Ewha Womans University integrated information system was subjected to a hacking attack, leading to the leakage of some graduates' names, resident registration numbers, contact information, email addresses, addresses, and academic records for those who enrolled between the 1982 and 2002 academic years. It was also confirmed that guardian information of some graduates was leaked. Information related to current students was not included in the scope of the leak.

Ewha Womans University campus view.

The university stated, "This attack was difficult for the security system to detect in advance, but through proactive monitoring by the staff, access was blocked early, minimizing the damage." They added, "The school promptly reported the incident to the Ministry of Education and the Personal Information Protection Commission and is actively cooperating and responding to prevent further damage."

They continued, "So far, there have been no suspected cases of misuse of personal information due to this incident," but emphasized, "The school recognizes the seriousness of this matter and is currently conducting internal system inspections and strengthening measures, as well as cooperating with related organizations to block any additional potential damage."

Furthermore, they said, "We will thoroughly analyze the cause of the incident, enhance system inspections, strengthen security systems, conduct regular security checks, and establish thorough measures to prevent recurrence," and apologized again, saying, "We sincerely apologize to our graduates for causing concern."

[Image source=Ewha Womans University official website]

Shin Kyung-sik, Chair of the Ewha Womans University Information Breach Response Team and Vice President for Research and External Affairs, told Yonhap News in a phone interview, "Out of a total of 250,000 graduates, information from about 80,000 individuals from 20 to 40 years ago was leaked," adding, "By law, admission information at the time of initial enrollment is permanently preserved."

He continued, "Sensitive information such as grades was not leaked, and there is currently no evidence that the leaked personal information has been distributed or stored," but added, "We deeply apologize for the leakage of personal information."

Meanwhile, Ewha Womans University detected abnormal access from overseas IPs during real-time monitoring of the integrated information system on the 3rd, and through investigation and security analysis, confirmed the leakage of personal information. The university is currently operating a personal information leakage inquiry system and a civil complaint center for related damage counseling to minimize the damage caused by the personal information leak.