Yonsei Portal Hack Exposes 10,000 Students' Data

An outsider broke into Yonsei University’s online portal and exposed personal details of about 10,000 current students and graduates, the Seoul university said on Thursday, according to Yonhap News Agency.

The university’s information and communications office said it had “confirmed unauthorized access to the portal by an external party”. It apologised for the concern and inconvenience, blocked the point of intrusion and asked the police to investigate.

TSN tracks attacks like this on its ransomware and cyber attacks hub.

ID numbers, phone numbers and email addresses were taken

According to Yonhap, the exposed data includes “student ID numbers, mobile phone numbers and email addresses of current students and graduates, as well as certain system management information”. The university did not explain what that system management information covers.

The university stressed what was not lost. “Sensitive personal information, such as resident registration numbers, was not compromised,” it said, as reported by Yonhap. Resident registration numbers are South Korea’s national identity numbers and are widely used to verify people online, so their absence limits the risk of straightforward identity fraud.

The data that was exposed is still useful to criminals. A student ID, phone number and email address together are enough to make phishing messages look like they come from the university, its departments or its services. Students and graduates should treat unexpected messages that cite their student details with caution.

The university found the breach on Tuesday evening

The Korea Herald reports that Yonsei became aware of the breach at about 7:40pm on Tuesday, Korean time (11:40am BST), and shut down the affected server. The university then detected a second attempted breach at 10:04am on Wednesday (2:04am BST), the paper said.

The final count could grow. A Yonsei official told the Korea Herald that the number of affected students is expected to rise, and the university confirmed to the paper that some international students were among those affected.

Neither report says who was behind the attack or how the attacker got in. The university has not said whether anyone has tried to use the data or made any demand.

Students can check what was exposed

Yonsei said details of the breach, including the specific types of personal information exposed for each affected person, would be posted on its website from 1pm on Thursday (5am BST). That notice is the first place for affected students and graduates to look before changing their account details.

The incident follows a series of hacks at South Korean financial firms this month, which TSN has covered. A university portal holds a different kind of record, but the effect for those affected is similar: their contact details are now in unknown hands.

The next figure to watch is the one Yonsei has already warned will change: the number of people whose details were taken.