Yonsei University portal hacked, exposing personal data of about 10,000 members

Yonsei University's portal service was hacked, exposing the personal data of about 10,000 current students, graduates and faculty members — the latest in a string of data breaches at South Korean universities following a similar incident at Sogang University in August that affected roughly 180,000 people.

The university's Office of Information and Communications announced Thursday that "unauthorized external access to the Yonsei portal service has been confirmed, resulting in the leakage of personal information belonging to some members."

According to the university, hacking attempts were made on two separate occasions — Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning.

The compromised data includes student and employee identification numbers, names, user IDs, affiliations, email addresses, mobile phone numbers and encrypted passwords. Resident registration numbers, passport numbers and other unique identification details were not among the leaked information, the university said.

After confirming the breach, Yonsei University immediately blocked the access route and notified the Personal Information Protection Commission and the Ministry of Education. All individuals whose data was exposed were informed via email and text message. The university plans to file a complaint with police requesting a formal investigation.

Further details, including which specific data items were leaked for each individual, are available on the university's official website from 1 p.m. Thursday.

In August, Sogang University was also hit by an external cyberattack that exposed roughly 180,000 records containing personal data of students, graduates and faculty. That case is currently under investigation by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's cyber investigation unit.

"We are rapidly analyzing what vulnerability was exploited in the attack," a Yonsei University official said. "We will do our utmost to prevent a recurrence."