> However, due to the system’s large-capacity, low-performance storage structure, no external backups were maintained — meaning all data has been permanently lost.

Yikes. You'd think they would at least have one redundant copy of it all.

> erasing work files saved individually by some 750,000 civil servants

> 30 gigabytes of storage per person

That's 22,500 terabytes, about 50 Backblaze storage pods.

Or even just mirrored locally.

We will learn nothing

I'm sure they had dozens of process heavy cybersecurity committees producing hundreds if not thousands of powerpoints and word documents outlining procedures and best practices over the last decade.

There is this weird divide between the certified class of non-technical consultants and actual overworked and pushed to corner cut techs.

Now imagine they had a CBDC.

Surely there must be something that's missing in translation? This feels like it simply can't be right.

no backup no sympathy

Technically the data is still in the cloud

> all documents be stored exclusively on G-Drive

Does G-Drive mean Google Drive, or "the drive you see as G:"?

If this is Google Drive, what they had locally were just pointers (for native Google Drive docs), or synchronized documents.

If this means the letter a network disk storage system was mapped to, this is a weird way of presenting the problem (I am typing on the black keyboard and the wooden table, so that you know)

This is the reason the 3, 2, 1 rule for backing up exists.

They might be singing this song now. (To the tune of 'Yesterday' from the Beatles).

    Yesterday,
    All those backups seemed a waste of pay.
    Now my database has gone away.
    Oh I believe in yesterday.

    Suddenly,
    There’s not half the files there used to be,
    And there’s a deadline
    hanging over me.
    The system crashed so suddenly.

    I pushed something wrong
    What it was I could not say.
    Now my data’s gone
    and I long for yesterday-ay-ay-ay.

    Yesterday,
    The need for back-ups seemed so far away.
    Thought all my data was here to stay,
    Now I believe in yesterday.

Well that works out doesn’t it? Saves them from discovery.

repeat after me:

multiple copies; multiple locations; multiple formats.

Saw a few days ago that the application site for the GKS, the most important scholarship for international students in Korea, went offline for multiple days, surprising to hear that they really lost all of the data though. Great opportunity to build a better website now?

But yeah it's a big problem in Korea right now, lots of important information just vanished, many are talking about it.

I thought clouds could not burn (:

Good example of a Technology trap

Mindblowing. Took a walk. All I can say is that if business continues "as usual" and the economy and public services continue largely unaffected then either there were local copies of critical documents, or you can fire a lot of those workers; either one of those ways the "stress test" was a success.

"The day the cloud went up in smoke"

LOL

>the G-Drive’s structure did not allow for external backups.

ah the so called schrodingers drive. It's there unless you try to copy it

Funny, because the same thing happened in Nepal a few weeks ago. Protestors/rioters burned some government buildings, along with the tech infrastructure within them, so now almost all electronic data is gone.

nice

Meanwhile, Estonia has a "data embassy" in Luxembourg: https://e-estonia.com/solutions/e-governance/data-embassy/

TL;DR: Estonia operates a Tier 4 (highest security) data center in Luxembourg with diplomatic immunity. Can actively run critical government services in real-time, not just backups.

The Egyptians send their condolences.

Some more details in this article: https://www.chosun.com/english/national-en/2025/10/02/FPWGFS...

Yikes. That is a nightmare scenario.

> The Interior Ministry explained that while most systems at the Daejeon data center are backed up daily to separate equipment within the same center and to a physically remote backup facility, the G-Drive’s structure did not allow for external backups.

This is why I don't really want to run my own cloud :)

Actually testing the backups is boring.

That said, ones the flames are out, they might actually be able to recover some of it.

what's the point of a storage system with no back up?

Watching Mr. Robot and seeing the burned batteries the same time...