Education-related institutes in South Korea have been hacked over 120,000 times in the past five years, a lawmaker said Monday.

From 2011 to August of this year, a total of 121,185 cyberattacks occurred on education institutes, said Rep. Rhee Chong-hoon of the ruling Saenuri Party. Citing data from Korea Education and Research Information Service, he said that government institutes including the Education Ministry, Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation and Korean Educational Development Institute were also breached.

KICE is in charge of the annual college entrance exam, while the KEDI conducted the nationwide college evaluation this year.

Over 700 cyberattacks were made on each of 49 schools and universities last year.

“The frequent hacking attacks indicate that personal information along with financial data may have leaked online. With the education institutes being so vulnerable to cyberattacks, it is possible other important data like exam papers and admission-related information would be stolen.

(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)