Beyond Data Leaks to Starting a Business Again… The First Challenge Left by 'Starting a Business for All'

Anyone can start a business with just one idea.

The 'Everyone's Startup Project' was launched as a national initiative enabling anyone across the country to pursue entrepreneurship. However, the leakage of partial personal information regarding the 5,000 successful applicants of the first cohort put the project to its first test of trust immediately upon its inception. Over the following month, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups moved to normalize the project by simultaneously implementing a comprehensive overhaul of the security system, providing relief to victims, and holding nationwide on-site meetings. This incident went beyond a simple data leak, leaving behind the challenges of security, idea protection, and the restoration of entrepreneurs' trust—qualities that a national startup platform must possess.

Noh Yong-suk, Acting Minister of SMEs and Startups, officially apologized for the data leak incident at a briefing held at the Government Complex Seoul in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 31st, stating, "I am once again sincerely sorry for causing concern despite the fact that many citizens submitted valuable startup ideas." He then personally explained the cause of the incident, the investigation results, corrective measures, and the plan for the second phase, announcing measures to normalize the project.

The data leak that occurred last June was caused by data being collected through web crawling while some of the platform's APIs contained private information. The investigation confirmed that although the information was encrypted, decryption was possible because the encryption key was exposed along with it.

A joint investigation with the National Intelligence Service revealed that the leaked information consisted of three items: the email addresses and evaluation comments of 5,000 successful applicants for "Everyone's Startup," as well as startup idea summaries of 200 characters or less. It was confirmed that a total of 39 domestic IPs attempted to access the API containing the non-public information, and a police investigation is currently underway to determine the specific IPs and their connections to AI solution companies.

Following the incident, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups formed the 'Startups for All Task Force' and simultaneously pursued strengthening platform security and providing relief for damages. First, it inspected APIs across the entire platform to block the transmission of private information and reinforced the database encryption system. It also improved the system to record all API access logs and enhanced web crawling detection and blocking functions.

The method of managing personal information has also changed. Standards have been revised to destroy personal information of general members immediately upon withdrawal, and the retention period for applicants has been improved to be managed based on the time of application. In particular, startup idea applications will be managed as critical information equivalent to personal information, and access rights will be restricted to the minimum number of personnel.

Along with strengthened security, the protection of startup ideas was also carried out in parallel. Approximately 1,000 people participated in the idea protection support program, which began last July, including 785 cases of original trade secret certification and 232 cases of idea escrow. In addition, 'Idea Consulting Days' were held in 17 cities and provinces nationwide, where over 120 intellectual property experts provided customized consultations to about 600 entrepreneurs.

A total of 87 cases were received at the damage reporting center, and the results for the two cases involving allegations of idea theft were communicated to the applicants after a separate investigation. The investigation confirmed that in both cases, the related services existed prior to the start of the project.

Following this incident, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups also announced plans to manage the platform at the level of a public information system. It plans to complete the procedures required for public information systems, such as security reviews by the National Intelligence Service, prior consultations with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, personal information impact assessments, and software impact assessments, by mid-August, and to establish a continuous monitoring system in collaboration with external security monitoring companies.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will resume recruitment for the second cohort of "Startup for All" as soon as supplementary measures are completed. Starting with the second cohort, the plan is to strengthen access permissions by requiring a login to view platform information and to supplement management standards for AI solution companies.

"Start-Up for All" is a national project designed to enable any citizen to take on the challenge of starting a business with just an idea. This data leak incident has reaffirmed the importance of platform security while leaving us with the challenge of how to protect startup ideas and restore trust in entrepreneurs.

Applicant A from the first cohort of "Start-Up for Everyone" said, "At first, I was concerned about the news of information leakage, but as someone preparing to start a business, I continued to refine my business plan and prepare for the presentation to create a better business rather than giving up." He added, "I hope that in the future, it will develop into a safe platform where entrepreneurs can trust and entrust their ideas, allowing good ideas to come out into the world with peace of mind."

As 'Startups for All' restarts in its second phase, the most important task has become whether it can establish itself as a platform where entrepreneurs can confidently entrust their ideas, going beyond simply having enhanced security. I hope that this incident will serve as an opportunity to further solidify the project's purpose of providing 'an opportunity for anyone to try their hand at entrepreneurship,' and that more ideas will come out into the world, leading to new startups.