One in Five Government Security Devices Is 'Aged Equipment'... Up to 15 Years Since Purchase

Wiesongon "Contrasting Yoon's Emphasis on Cybersecurity"

One out of every five security devices managed by the government has been identified as outdated equipment. The maximum elapsed service life of the devices was 8 years, and the number of devices that have been discontinued or are no longer supported technically reached around 200 units.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety to Wi Seong-gon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, on the 26th, out of the 1,822 government security devices currently managed by the National Information Resources Service, 329 units were found to be outdated devices that have exceeded their service life.

Among these, 21 units included devices classified as core security areas such as Packet Distribution Platforms (PDP), Packet Analysis Systems, and Cyber Shelter equipment. These devices are essential systems that respond to threats such as network paralysis and data theft.

The device with the most severe aging had an elapsed service life of 8 years. Considering that the typical service life is 7 years, it means that security equipment purchased 15 years ago is still in use.

The number of devices that have been discontinued or are no longer supported technically reached 215 units. In such cases, security patches or updates are discontinued, leaving the devices defenseless against security threats, and it becomes difficult for manufacturers to analyze the cause in case of malfunctions.

[Source: Office of Congressman Wi Seong-gon]

The government is understood to have allocated 7.126 billion KRW for the replacement of outdated security equipment in next year’s budget, the same amount for the sixth consecutive year. At around 200 million KRW per unit, only four units of the expensive core security equipment were included in the replacement targets for next year.

Representative Wi criticized, "This situation contrasts with President Yoon Seok-yeol’s recent emphasis on cyber security while mentioning North Korea," adding, "The government, which blamed system aging during last year’s large-scale administrative network paralysis incident, seems to have ultimately failed to learn the lesson that 'prevention is the life of security.'"