‘Throwing money out the window’: can a cyber tsar shift South Korea’s mindsets?

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s push for a centralised cybersecurity agency after his passport details were leaked could face widespread inertia despite what he considers a national security priority.

Tech experts warn that creating a new organisation alone will do little to address the deeper problem of complacency, with businesses and government agencies viewing tighter cybersecurity as an unnecessary expense until a serious breach occurs.

Lee’s proposal comes amid growing scrutiny of South Korea’s cybersecurity vulnerabilities, notably after passport details and other personal information of 168 people, including the president, his wife and senior security officials, were reported to be accessible online for nearly five months.