Over 3,000 Posts of Personal Information Remain Online

From January to July this year, a total of 89,209 posts illegally selling or sharing personal information were detected online both domestically and internationally. As of July, 3,341 of these posts had not been deleted.

The figures were provided by a member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee, based on data submitted by the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA). The number of undeleted posts may include those recently detected and in the process of deletion. Therefore, it cannot be concluded that the response to deletions has worsened compared to the previous year solely based on this figure.

A significant issue is that deleting posts does not equate to the elimination of leaked information. Data already downloaded by someone can reappear on other forums or messaging services. When combined with names, phone numbers, and email addresses, there is a risk of them being misused for impersonation or phishing attacks. If usernames and passwords are leaked, this may lead to account credential stuffing attacks on other services using the same password.

Companies must go beyond blocking the leak and notifying customers. They need to identify the nature of the leaked items and monitor for potential reposting, continuing to request the deletion of discovered posts and detecting suspicious logins. If a breach involves passwords, they must guide users on protecting accounts and the risks of password reuse across different services.

Posts hosted on overseas platforms may not be effectively addressed by domestic deletion requests alone. The Personal Information Protection Committee is also pursuing cooperation with supervisory bodies in the Asia-Pacific region to jointly address illegal distribution of personal information. This statistics not only highlights the number of deletions but also emphasizes the importance of how quickly similar information can be detected and responded to when redistributed.