Fire Destroys G Drive: Massive Data Loss Hits Korean Government
A fire at the National Information Resources Service in Daejeon has destroyed the government's central document storage system, Google Drive. The blaze has led to significant data loss, affecting various government branches and civil servants.
The fire directly destroyed 96 systems, including Google Drive, which stored work documents of nearly 191,000 civil servants. Unfortunately, the system was not backed up on OneDrive, resulting in the loss of these crucial documents. As a precaution, all 647 systems at the Daejeon headquarters went offline simultaneously when the fire broke out.
As of Wednesday, only 21 of the 38 'Grade 1' services had been fully restored. Officials have been working tirelessly to restore the remaining systems, with 101 systems already back online. The extent of the damage is still being assessed, but it's clear that government branches that relied on Google Drive for work documents will experience significant disruptions to their operations. The Ministry of Personnel Management is expected to be particularly hard hit, as it stored most of its work on Google Drive. More sensitive official documents were also stored on both Google Drive and the Onnara System, the government's pan-government intranet.
Four officials have been booked in connection with the fire, including one NIRS official and three external workers overseeing the battery relocation. Investigations are ongoing to determine the cause of the fire and assign responsibility.
The fire at the National Information Resources Service has caused substantial data loss, affecting numerous government branches and civil servants. While efforts are underway to restore systems and recover data, the full impact of the incident remains to be seen. The government is expected to provide updates on the situation and any measures being taken to mitigate the effects of the fire.
