Signs of hacking at 25 South Korean universities, hospitals and online shops
The government and the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) found signs that internal data from South Korean medical and educational institutions, online shopping sites and others had been stolen and was being sold on hacking forums. Signs of damage identified from December 2025 to 5 January 2026 were shared, and the leaked data included hall of residence outing records and plastic surgery clinic information. On 13 January, it was reported that further attacks by the hacker AshleyWood2022 had brought the total number of targets to 25.
Key facts
- Affected organisation
- Being confirmed
- Incident type
- Data breach
- Occurred / detected
- Not confirmed
- Scale of damage
- A total of 25 South Korean institutions, companies and websites targeted
- Cause / method
- Theft of internal databases through website hacking and sale on hacking forums
- Location
- South Korea
If your data was exposed
Exposed dataHealth & medical dataUsage & purchase history
- Don’t tap links in texts, calls or emails that mention this incident and offer compensation, refunds or breach checks. Check directly on the organisation’s official website or app.
- If you’ve suffered harm, report it. Call 118 (no area code) for privacy violations, contact the police for financial losses, and apply for dispute mediation to seek compensation.Personal Information Infringement Report Centre ↗Korean National Police Agency cybercrime report ↗Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee ↗
Timeline
- Signs of data theft from South Korean institutions and companies and sale on hacking forums, identified by the government and KISA, were reported.
- It was reported that the hacker AshleyWood2022 had attacked four more small South Korean websites, bringing the total number of targets to 25.
6 related reports
The summary and key facts are written by AI from related reports and may contain errors. Check the original articles and the organisation’s official statements for accurate details.