INSPECTING ARCHIVED INTELLIGENCE (OUTDATED VERSION).

Ministry of Rural Affairs and Agriculture Experiences Massive Data Leak

| 2026-10-14 18:02 CRITICAL LOW DATA BREACH
Executive Summary
AI-generated
A massive leak of 575,000 farmers' personal information occurred in South Korea last year, involving sensitive data such as names, addresses, contact information, and business registration numbers. The Ministry of Rural Affairs and Agriculture has been criticized for its handling of the breach, which was attributed to a contractor's failure to delete personal information after completing a project, as well as poor management and supervision by the agency itself. The leaked data was sold 17 times despite the disposal of confidentiality agreements, highlighting the need for more effective measures to prevent recurrence. The incident has raised concerns about the limitations of formal disposal and security audits in public institutions' personal data outsourcing, emphasizing the importance of verifying actual data deletion rather than just submitting confirmation certificates.
Technical Mitigations AI-generated
• Reset credentials and API keys that may have been exposed, and review access logs for the affected accounts or integrations.
Intelligence Metadata
Actors / Malware / CVEs / Campaigns
Target & Sectors
KR
governmentgovernment
Incident Timeline
‎2025/10/14
The Ministry of Rural Affairs and Agriculture in South Korea experienced a data breach involving 575,000 farmers' personal information.
target_region Korea, Republic of
tactic Data Breach
organisation Ministry of Rural Affairs and Agriculture
general_metric 575,000 farmers
‎14th April
Lee In-gwon, chairman of the National Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Marine Resources, questioned the cause of the breach during a parliamentary inquiry on 14th April.
organisation the People Power Party
organisation People Power Party
‎2026/10/14
The Agricultural Cooperatives Corporation failed to verify the actual deletion of 5.7 million individual farmer's personal information after submitting 17 confirmation documents for data destruction.
organisation the Agricultural Cooperatives Corporation
organisation The Ministry of Rural Affairs and Agriculture