Cybersecurity Policy Report, South Korean Privacy Agency Urges Strengthened Credential Management Controls, (Jun 15, 2026)
By Tony Foley
Noting a marked increase in personal data breaches due to credential exposure in cloud services, the South Korean Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) stressed the growing importance of strengthening credential information such as access keys, authentication tokens, and application programming interface (API) keys.
The PIPC explained in a press release today that a variety of data breaches had occurred, both domestically and internationally, in which credentials stored in development collaboration tools, such as GitHub and cloud environments, were exposed or stolen. Specifically, the agency said, if credentials used during the development process were exposed in source code repositories or collaboration tools, it could lead to unauthorized access to personal information processing systems, databases, and cloud services, potentially resulting in large-scale data breaches.
The PIPC’s recommendations for organizations may be downloaded from the press release but are available only in Korean. A machine translation of the recommendations reveals that the PIPC has encouraged organizations to take the following steps:
Credentials like access keys, passwords, and API keys should not be stored or exposed in source code;
Organizations should use temporary credentials that automatically expire after a certain time period rather than long-term credentials;
IP addresses, network segments, and other items that can be used as credentials should be restricted;
For major systems like database and cloud management consoles, multifactor authentication and access based on the principle of least privilege should be implemented; and
Regular checks in credential usage history should be conducted to prevent long-term or unnecessary use, and unauthorized access permissions should be revoked immediately.
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