Seoul: The National Intelligence Service (NIS) has escalated South Korea's cyber alert level to "caution" following a significant disruption of public online services caused by last week's fire at a state data management facility. This decision, effective from 6 p.m. on Monday, reflects concerns over potential cyber attacks that could exploit vulnerabilities in the government's administrative systems during the outage.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the elevated alert is part of a four-tier system, with "caution" being the second level. The fire, which occurred at the National Information Resources Service in Daejeon, about 140 kilometers from Seoul, led to the suspension of hundreds of public administration systems. The NIS emphasizes the importance of heightened cyber threat monitoring, especially with the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju on October 31.

In response to the "caution" alert, government entities are required to promptly report any detected cyber threats or network disruptions to the National Cyber Security Center or the Office of National Security. The government is actively working on relocating 96 systems damaged by the fire to an alternative data center in Daegu, a process anticipated to take approximately four weeks.