Election watchdog's cybersecurity system vulnerable to hacking attacks: NIS

Reports the National Intelligence Service's announcement of 10 October 2023 on the joint cybersecurity inspection it conducted with the Korea Internet and Security Agency at the National Election Commission between July and September 2023. The NIS said weaknesses were found in the voter register management, ballot counting and early voting systems, that simulated attacks could alter voter registrations and counts, mark early voters as non-participants and print ballots without authorisation, and that North Korea could breach the network at any time. It also records the April 2021 theft of classified NEC documents by the North Korean group Kimsuky, and the NEC's reply that technical vulnerabilities would not by themselves allow an outcome to be manipulated without organised insider assistance.