South Korea's Intelligence Agency Orders Emergency Security Checks at About 2,100 Government Agencies

South Korea's National Intelligence Service has asked about 2,100 central and local government agencies to conduct emergency security checks following recent cyberattacks on the financial industry, according to unnamed South Korean officials. According to Sina Finance, the agency asked the institutions on October 22 to conduct self-assessments using a checklist, focusing on externally facing systems, security monitoring, and security patches. The agency is also checking critical public-sector IT infrastructure for vulnerabilities, with the review expected to be completed by mid-November. Since late October, South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT has also been checking 111 institutions that manage about 170 critical information and communications infrastructure sites in the private sector.