INCIDENT REPORT · CP-2025-017
South Korea NIRS government data center fire
L3 · ELEVATEDCONFIRMEDNOT AN ATTACK
A lithium-ion battery fire at the National Information Resources Service data center in Daejeon knocked 647 government IT systems offline.
- Incident ID
- CP-2025-017
- Incident date
- 26 SEP 2025
- Detection date
- 26 SEP 2025
- Affected countries
- South Korea
- Plotted location
- Daejeon, South Korea (Affected data center location)
- Threat classification
- Level 3 — ELEVATED
- Classification rationale
- Hundreds of South Korean government online services went offline for an extended period. Classified on impact; the cause was a data-center fire, not a cyberattack.
- Attack type
- Non-Malicious IT Failure
- Nature
- Non-malicious failure — not a cyberattack
- Attack vector
- Not publicly documented
- Sectors
- Government
- Critical infrastructure
- Yes
- Organizations affected
- National Information Resources Service (NIRS), South Korean government ministries
- Operational consequences
- Hundreds of public online services, including Government24, were disrupted for weeks; only 157 services had been restored by 6 October. The government's G-Drive cloud storage system was destroyed without backup.
- Estimated financial impact
- No reliably documented figure
- Attribution (as stated)
- No official attribution recorded
SOURCE REFERENCES
- [1] Hundreds of South Korean government services go offline following data center fireTechRadar · techradar.com
- [2] Citizens brace for prolonged disruptions after blaze knocks out gov't data centerThe Korea Times · koreatimes.co.kr · 28 SEP 2025
- [3] South Korea restores 157 government services after major data center fireThe Tribune (Yonhap) · tribuneindia.com
RECORD CREATED 14 NOV 2026 · LAST UPDATED 14 NOV 2026 · Threat levels are editorial assessments, not official government ratings.