Ministry of Foreign Affairs security incident history
Hacking, data breaches and other security incidents involving Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with related coverage.
Personal data of 168 presidential aircraft passengers, including president and spouse, leaked
168Impact: Personal information of 168 passengers on board Air Force One, including the president and spouse
Personal information, including passport numbers, of 168 passengers on board the presidential aircraft, Air Force One, including the president, the president’s spouse and cabinet members, was posted on VirusTotal and exposed for approximately five months. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs took steps to remove the posted information and reissue passports for all passengers, and completed the reissuance of passports for the president and spouse. Police launched a formal investigation and are examining how the leak occurred, including the possibility that the ministry’s contracted security monitoring provider uploaded an email attachment to an external scanning site.
Related reports: 133 · last report →Prolonged hack of Foreign Ministry leaks about 10,000 staff records
10kImpact: About 10,000 staff records
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was hacked over a period of ten months, leaking about 10,000 records of staff information. Notification of the staff data leak was delayed, and reporting the damage also took five months. The ministry added one dedicated staff member to handle personal data leaks and quadrupled its cybersecurity budget for the following year.
Related reports: 6 · last report →DDoS attack temporarily disrupts access to South Korean foreign ministry website
Impact: Temporary access outage on the ministry's website
On the afternoon of 17 April 2026, the website of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs suffered a temporary access outage due to a DDoS attack. A Russian hacker later claimed to have attacked the ministry and other government agencies in response to South Korea's support for Ukraine.
Related reports: 3 · last report →Indonesian and Bangladeshi hackers claim DDoS attacks on South Korea
Indonesian and Bangladeshi hackers claimed to have carried out DDoS attacks against South Korean media outlets and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Whether any actual damage occurred and its extent have not been confirmed.
Read on 보안뉴스 ↗Anonymous BD launches DDoS attack on South Korea's foreign ministry over support for Israel
South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs was hit by a DDoS attack by Anonymous BD. Support for Israel was given as the reason for the attack, and the specific extent of the damage and the response have not been confirmed.
Read on 보안뉴스 ↗South Korean foreign ministry email hacking alleged; unauthorised access denied
Impact: Alleged hacking of 4.5GB of emails
Allegations emerged that 4.5GB of South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs emails were hacked by China's Ministry of State Security in January 2022. In March 2025, the US Department of Justice indicted eight Chinese hackers on charges including hacking South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The ministry said there was no record of unauthorised access to its mailboxes.
Related reports: 5 · last report →