SEOUL, South Korea — Five employees at a South Korean state-run cybersecurity institute repeatedly logged on to StarCraft game servers during working hours while their supervisors were away on vacation or business trips, a lawmaker said, raising questions about discipline at an agency tasked with defending the country's digital infrastructure.

The employees, who worked at the National Security Research Institute, accessed Blizzard Entertainment's Battle.net online gaming service between September and December 2024, according to records disclosed Monday by Rep. Hwang Jung-a of the ruling Democratic Party.

One employee logged more than 90 hours of total access during the period, the records showed. The longest single-day session reached eight hours and 53 minutes, nearly a full workday.

"Repeatedly accessing game servers while taking advantage of their managers' absence is a serious lapse in discipline for employees tasked with protecting the nation's cybersecurity," Hwang said.

Separate site, open network

The employees worked at the institute's Cybersecurity Training and Exercise Center, which is located apart from the main headquarters. Because the center used an external network for training purposes, the staff were able to reach outside game servers without being blocked by the security controls that would normally apply.

The institute cut off the center's experimental internet connection in December 2024. Even so, some of the employees continued to access the external network afterward, according to the records.

The National Security Research Institute is a government-funded research body affiliated with the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, or........

© International Business Times