Gov't: major IT companies now required to manage disasters

Major IT companies, including Naver, Kakao and Google, will be required to manage disasters, the government said Friday, in an effort to prevent last year’s fire outbreak at Kakao’s data center that temporarily stopped the app’s operation.

A screen shows KakaoTalk screen page [JOONGANG PHOTO]

Major IT companies, including Naver, Kakao and Google, will be required to manage disasters, the government said Friday, in an effort to prevent last year’s fire outbreak at Kakao’s data center that temporarily stopped the app’s operation.

The Ministry of Science and ICT named 15 companies that are required to follow risk management regulations, including Samsung Electronics, Netflix, Meta Platforms and Amazon Web Service.

The designated companies will be required to establish a department dedicated to managing disasters related to telecommunications.

Value-added common carriers with at least a thousand daily average users or those with domestic traffic surpassing two percent are also subject to the designation.

The requirement for designated data center operators includes revenue of more than 10 billion won ($7.8 million).

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]