Korea's information disclosure portal down about 45 minutes; traffic controller suspected
In short
South Korea's Information Disclosure Portal (정보공개포털) suffered an access outage on its web and mobile sites on October 8 and was restored at about 11:45, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety said. The ministry first put the outage at 17 minutes from 11:28, then corrected the start to about 11:01 after checking equipment records, making it about 44 to 45 minutes. A malfunctioning traffic controller is the suspected cause, and the ministry said the outage was unrelated to recent hacking attacks on the financial sector.
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South Korea's Information Disclosure Portal (정보공개포털) suffered an access outage on its web and mobile sites on October 8 before service was restored at about 11:45, according to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. The portal is a site where people can request disclosure of information held by public institutions, such as state agencies and local governments, or view information already disclosed. Newsis and Kyunghyang Shinmun reported, citing the ministry, that the outage began at about 11:01, and Yonhap and Kyunghyang put its length at 45 minutes, while Newsis said about 44 minutes. [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]
Reports of the duration differed. Newsis first reported, citing the ministry, that the outage lasted 17 minutes, from 11:28 to 11:45. Newsis later reported that the ministry had corrected the start time to about 11:01 after further checking equipment records, saying the first figure was based on the initial situation report from the Digital Safety Situation Room (디지털안전상황실) of the National Information Resources Service (국가정보자원관리원). Seoul Economic Daily, publishing in the afternoon, still reported an outage of about 17 minutes starting at about 11:28. [ 2 , 4 , 5 ]
According to Newsis and Kyunghyang Shinmun, the National Information Resources Service detected the outage at about 11:26 and began recovery work. Newsis reported that the problem occurred in equipment that controls traffic coming into the portal. A National Information Resources Service official told Newsis that access problems arose while the traffic controller was restarting and that the specific cause of the malfunction was under investigation. Kyunghyang reported that the agency provisionally presumes a traffic controller malfunction caused the error. Seoul Economic Daily reported that the ministry sees a malfunction of the traffic controller, a device that regulates the volume of data going to and from the web service, as the cause, and quoted a ministry official as saying the outage caused no damage. [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]
The ministry said the outage had been confirmed as unrelated to recent hacking attacks on the financial sector. It said it was closely analysing equipment status and related logs to identify the exact cause and would quickly carry out the necessary fixes so the same failure does not recur. Kyunghyang Shinmun quoted the National Information Resources Service as saying it would keep checking and strengthening failure detection and response for major information systems to minimise inconvenience and restore services quickly. [ 4 , 6 ]
Why it matters
The portal is the site where people request disclosure of information held by public institutions or view disclosed information, so the outage cut off that service for part of the morning. The ministry corrected its own initial account of how long the outage lasted, and it said it would take steps to prevent the same failure from happening again.
Key facts
- The Information Disclosure Portal's web and mobile sites had an access outage on October 8. [ 2 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]
- Service was restored at about 11:45. [ 2 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]
- The Ministry of the Interior and Safety corrected the start of the outage from 11:28 to about 11:01 after checking equipment records. [ 4 ]
- The National Information Resources Service (국가정보자원관리원) detected the outage at about 11:26 and began recovery work. [ 4 , 6 ]
- A malfunction of the traffic controller handling traffic into the portal is the suspected cause. [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]
- The ministry said the outage was not related to recent hacking attacks on the financial sector. [ 4 , 6 ]
- The portal lets users request disclosure of information held by public institutions or view disclosed information. [ 2 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- The Information Disclosure Portal's web and mobile sites had an access outage on October 8 and were restored at about 11:45. [ 2 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]
- The outage began at about 11:01, according to the ministry's corrected account. [ 4 , 6 ]
- The National Information Resources Service detected the outage at about 11:26 and began recovery. [ 4 , 6 ]
- A traffic controller malfunction is the suspected cause. [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]
- The ministry said the outage was unrelated to recent hacking attacks on the financial sector. [ 4 , 6 ]
Still unclear
- The specific cause of the traffic controller malfunction. The ministry and the National Information Resources Service said it is still being investigated.
- How long the outage lasted. Newsis and Seoul Economic Daily reported 17 minutes from 11:28, while later reports from Newsis, Yonhap and Kyunghyang Shinmun gave about 44 to 45 minutes after the ministry corrected the start time to about 11:01.
- Whether the outage caused any damage. Only Seoul Economic Daily quoted a ministry official saying there was no damage.
What local media are saying
Timeline, local time
- Access outage begins on the portal's web and mobile sites, according to the ministry's corrected account. [ 4 , 6 ]
- The National Information Resources Service detects the outage and starts recovery. [ 4 , 6 ]
- Start time of the outage in the ministry's initial account. [ 2 , 4 , 5 ]
- Service is restored. [ 2 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]
- Yonhap reports the outage and restoration, with the ministry identifying the cause. [ 1 ]
- Newsis reports a 17-minute outage, citing the ministry. [ 2 ]
- Newsis reports the corrected start time and an outage of about 44 minutes. [ 4 ]