Government not to keep its promise on information security
Lee Gyung Tak | kt87@ | 2018-05-16 11:02:00

The Korean government`s investment in the awareness of information security and budgeting has not stopped despite cyber attacks have increased dramatically in recent years, including the hijacking of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Especially, the Fair Trade Commission and the ministry of science, technology, and information and communications, which cite `fair trade` and `fostering the information security industry`, respectively, are also showing signs of opposition to slogans in the field of information security. Experts point out that if the government does not pay the price. The quality of the solution will deteriorate and the high-quality human resources will deviate. As a result, the competitiveness of national cyber-security will be outdated.

According to the analysis of the major government agencies` security control service business, which was revealed to the PPS by the Digital Times on May 14, most ministries confirmed that the security control budget this year was frozen to the level of last year. Some of the ministries are in the same business budget, but there are some places that require additional service personnel.

The Ministry of Information and Communication, the Ministry of Information and Security, which is responsible for fostering the information security industry, selected information security control operators at the end of last year, while the workforce slightly increased, compared to the previous year. However, the budget is frozen. The company did not even maintain a minimum price increase or a rise in labor costs. The budget allocated by the Ministry of Information and Communication to the security control for two years is KRW 1.96 billion. The situation at the Fair Trade Commission, which plays a role in correcting unfair trade, is the same. The budget has been cut from KRW 1.87 billion to KRW 1.8 billion, even though the number of people in the two-year project started last year increased from 11 to 12. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has increased its budget for security control projects from KRW 1.51 billion in the past two years to KRW 2.8 billion in two years from this year, In effect, the budget is frozen. The Ministry of Environment put 2 billion KRW 86 million into the project for two years from this year, slightly increased from the previous year (KRW 1,861 million), however, added one more manpower and two months. The Ministry of Unification has set a budget of KRW 1.57 billion this year, the same amount as last year. The Supreme Court had a slight decrease in budget over the term of the contract. The National Tax Service (NTS) has set a budget of KRW 622 million for the security control business, which is 11 people in 12 months. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration has increased its input workforce from six to seven, but its business budget has been tightly adjusted.

Therefore, despite price hikes or wage increases are not reflected in the budget, the business conditions of security specialists are getting worse. The more you do business, the more self-reliance you get. Resilient work is essential as an emergency response is necessary in case of cyber attack. Once the 52-hour workweek system is introduced, the cost burden will increase.

A representative in the security industry stated, "Security is a priority in the government ministry, so it is not reflected in the security department even if it meets the regulations or guidelines."

Park Chun-sik, a professor at the Seoul Women`s University (Information Security Department), said, "Problems arise due to the review of the budget of the Ministry of Information, the recognition of information protection that subordinates to subordinate ministries and the low price bidding practices of the Public Procurement Service." The Ministry of Information and Communication said, "As soon as possible, the minimum price for information security services should be set."

By Lee Gyung Tak kt87@


[ copyright ¨Ï The Digitaltimes ]