Fire at NIRS Daejeon data center halts 647 government systems of the South Korea

A fire that broke out on the evening of the 26th in the main data center at the Daejeon headquarters of the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) halted 647 key government IT systems, South Korea officials confirmed.

Vice Minister Kim Min-jae of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety said at a briefing at the Government Complex Seoul on the 27th that “because the constant temperature and humidity control unit did not function properly due to the fire, there were concerns about server overheating, and we proactively shut down operations to safely protect the systems.”

According to NIRS, the fire occurred in Computer Room No. 7. As the constant temperature and humidity device shut down, heat could have affected the servers, so power was cut off immediately. NIRS currently operates centers in Gwangju and Daegu in addition to the Daejeon headquarters and can provide a total of 1,600 government services, but due to this fire, 647 systems at the Daejeon headquarters have stopped.

As for the cause of the fire, officials said, “During work to move an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) battery to the basement, a fire broke out from one battery whose power had been cut.” A UPS battery is a device that keeps the power supply to IT systems stable.

A fire at the main computer room of the Daejeon National Information Resources Service (NIRS) has caused some services on the Supreme Court’s electronic litigation portal and the internet registry office to become unavailable. NIRS is an institution that manages and operates IT (information and communication) systems for the government and local governments.

On the 27th, notices stating “Some services unavailable due to NIRS fire” were posted on the websites of the Supreme Court’s electronic litigation portal and the internet registry office. The electronic litigation portal is a system that allows litigation procedures to be conducted online, enabling the submission of litigation documents and payment of litigation fees, among other functions.

The internet registry office operated by the Supreme Court also experienced disruptions in some services linked to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and NIRS computer systems. Services such as inquiries into land use plans, linkage with road name address searches during electronic applications, verification and submission of electronic wallets during internet issuance, and linkage with administrative documents including resident registration information and basic certificates have been suspended.

A Supreme Court official stated, “Viewing and issuing real estate and corporate registry records are proceeding normally,” adding, “However, there may be difficulties in using services such as resident registration information, electronic registry certificates linked to the Government24 electronic wallet, and the status of pending registry applications.”

A fire occurred around 8:15 p.m. on the 26th in the computer room on the 5th floor of NIRS, causing 647 government business systems to halt.

…This story demonstrates the serious damage a simple fire can cause to information security.

Storing information on electronic media, it turns out, is unreliable. Redundant systems are required.

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