In late September 2025, the digital infrastructure of the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) in Daejeon, South Korea, became ground zero for one of the most dramatic data loss events in recent memory. A fire inside the government data centre destroyed up to 858 terabytes of data, and what’s worse, that data had no backup.
As investigations proceed, at least five people have been charged with professional negligence in connection with the incident: one NIRS official, one project management firm employee, and three construction company workers.
This article tells the story of what happened and then examines what the incident teaches every organization, especially small and mid sized enterprises, about data backup and disaster recovery.
The Story: How a Battery Fire Sparked a National Digital Disaster
On September 26, 2025, the Daejeon facility of NIRS, one of South Korea’s primary government data centres, was performing a relocation of uninterruptible power supply batteries from the fifth floor to the building’s basement. During that operation, a battery pack exploded, initiating a fire that spread rapidly among the UPS battery bank and adjacent server infrastructure.
The blaze damaged critical cooling and dehumidification systems, forcing operators to shut down up to 647 government systems housed in the facility. Among them was the G Drive system, not the Google product, a cloud style document platform used by thousands of government officials. This system held the 858 TB of data that had no off site backup.
To make matters worse, officials later revealed that the lack of backup was not due to oversight alone. According to a report, the G Drive could not have a backup system due to its large capacity. As one insider put it, employees stored all work materials on the G Drive, but operations are now practically at a standstill.
In the days following the outage, only about 17.8 percent of affected services had been restored. Government email, postal services, citizen petition platforms, and even emergency hotline systems were impacted.
Investigative reports indicate that improperly subcontracted and unqualified workers performed the relocation, and safety protocols were not followed. Regulators now cite multiple charges related to professional negligence.
In short, a single point of failure, an unprotected mission critical system with no backup in a centralized facility, turned into a full scale national data disaster.
Why It Matters and Why It Should Matter to Your Business
This event did not just impact a large government IT department. Its lessons apply to every organization, especially small and medium sized enterprises that often assume they are too small to matter or will not make headlines if they lose data.
Here are some key takeaways:
Volume is not an excuse.
The G Drive held 858 TB and was deemed too large to back up. In 2025, technology can handle petabytes of data. The size of your dataset does not excuse a lack of backup.
Centralization creates risk.
Housing a massive portion of critical systems in a single facility creates a single point of failure. The fire knocked out hundreds of systems at once.
Backups only work if they exist and are usable.
The 17.8 percent recovery rate shows how difficult recovery becomes without proper planning and redundancy.
Physical risks still apply, even in cloud style systems.
Just because something operates like the cloud does not mean it is immune from fire, battery failure, or cascading downtime.
People, process, and vendor risk matter.
Negligence and subcontracting failures show that human error and vendor mistakes can trigger catastrophic consequences. Technology alone is not the full story.
What This Teaches Us About Backup and Recovery
Based on this incident and established best practices, here are key actions every business should implement for data backup and disaster recovery.
1. Maintain Multiple Copies in Multiple Locations
Follow the 3 2 1 backup rule: three copies of your data, on two different media types, with one copy off site or in the cloud. If all copies live in the same building, one disaster can eliminate everything.
2. Use Off Site or Geographically Separated Backups
Whether backups are in another building, another city, or a separate cloud availability zone, they must be physically and logically separate from production systems.
3. Test and Verify Regularly
A backup is not useful unless you can restore from it. Conduct periodic recovery drills to confirm that you can restore systems within your required timeframe.
4. Protect Against Cyber and Physical Threats
Use immutable backups, versioning, air gapped solutions, or write once storage to guard against ransomware or malicious deletion. Plan for fire, flood, hardware failure, and other physical threats as seriously as cyber risks.
5. Develop a Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan
Your disaster recovery strategy should include technical restoration procedures and operational planning. Define who restores systems, expected downtime, financial impact, and communication plans for clients and stakeholders.
6. Ensure Vendor and Process Oversight
Verify that vendors and contractors follow best practices and are properly qualified. In this case, unqualified subcontractors were a critical failure point.
7. Understand That Scale Does Not Remove Risk
Whether you store 10 TB or 10 PB, the risk is real. Many major losses begin with the assumption that backup can wait. That delay can be irreversible.
Final Word: Make Backups Your Safety Net
The South Korean government’s data loss event is not just a cautionary tale for large institutions. It is a clear signal that backups must never be an afterthought. The loss of 858 TB of historical data, disruption of critical services, and subsequent negligence charges illustrate the high stakes.
If you have not reviewed your backup and disaster recovery strategy recently, now is the time. If you are unsure whether your systems and data are adequately protected, consider scheduling an assessment. When it comes to safeguarding your operations, good enough is not good enough.
Take Your Backup and Disaster Recovery Strategy Seriously
Protecting your business from data loss does not have to be complicated, but it does need to be intentional. With the right IT partner, you can reduce risk, strengthen security, and ensure your operations continue even in the face of unexpected disruption. Intermedia Group’s backup, disaster recovery, and cybersecurity solutions are designed to keep your data protected, recoverable, and resilient.
Learn more about our Backup and Disaster Recovery solutions here.
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