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 center 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 drills down into 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 centers — was performing a relocation of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) 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 wasn’t due to oversight alone: according to a report, the G-Drive “couldn’t 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% of affected services had been restored. Government email, postal services, citizen-petition platforms and even emergency hotline systems were impacted.
And the human toll was echoed in shocking detail: investigative reports indicate that improperly subcontracted and unqualified workers performed the relocation; 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-blown national data disaster.
Why It Matters — And Why It Should Matter to Your Business
Let’s bring this home: this event didn’t just impact a large government IT department — its lessons apply to every organization, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that often assume “we’re too small to matter” or “we won’t make the headlines if we lose data.”
Some key takeaways:
Volume isn’t an excuse: The G-Drive held 858 TB and was deemed “too large to back up.” But in 2025, we have technology that can handle petabytes of data. The size of your dataset doesn’t excuse lack of backup.
Data Consolidation Risk: Having a single facility house a massive portion of your critical systems creates a single point of failure. The fire knocked out hundreds of systems at once.
Backups are only useful if they exist *and* are usable.: The services recovery rate in this case (17.8%) shows how hard it is to recover when you don’t plan for it.
Physical risks still apply, even in “cloud” systems. Just because it’s a cloud-style system doesn’t mean it’s immune from fire, battery failure, or cascading downtime.
People, Processes & Vendors Matter: The negligence and subcontracting issues show that human errors or vendor mistakes can trigger the domino effect. The tech is only part of the story. We’ve all heard the old saying, “You get what you pay for.”
What This Teaches Us About Backup & Recovery and Choosing Vendors
So what should you be doing? Based on this incident and established best practices, here are key actions every business should implement for a data backup and disaster recovery plan:
1. Multiple Copies in Multiple Locations
Following the “3-2-1” backup rule remains wise: that’s *3 copies* of your data, on *2 different media*, with *1 copy off-site (or in a separate cloud)*. If all copies live in the same complex, one disaster wipes everything out.
2. Off-Site or Cloud Backups, Geographically Separated
Whether your backups sit in another building, another city, or a different cloud availability zone — they must be separate from your production systems. If your production site goes down, backups must be insulated.
3. Regular Testing & Verification
A backup isn’t useful until you verify that you *can* restore it. Periodically perform restore drills (“can we get back up in X hours?”) so you know your systems are recoverable.
4. Protection Against Cyber & Physical Threats
Include immutable backups, versioning, air-gap or write-once media to protect against ransomware or malicious deletion. And plan for physical threats (fire, flood, UPS/battery failure) just as you do for cyber risk.
5. Business Continuity Planning (BCP) + Disaster Recovery Plan
Your DR plan must include both technical data backups *and* the operational plans: Who will restore, how long will systems be down, what’s the cost of downtime, how will you communicate with clients/stakeholders?
6. Vendor & Process Oversight
Ensure vendor contracts for backups, relocation, maintenance follow best practices, and that your staff or external contractors are properly vetted and qualified.
7. Scale Doesn’t Remove Risk
Whether you’re storing 10 TB or 10 PB, the risk is real. SMEs may think “we’re too small to interest attackers or disaster” — but many of the largest losses start as “we’ll back this up later.” That later may never come.
8. Cost of Backup v. a Disaster
While some people see data backup and recovery as an unnecessary additional cost, the cost of losing years’ worth of crucial data is infinitely greater.
Final Word: Make Backups Your Safety Net
The South Korean government’s data-loss event isn’t just a cautionary tale for large institutions — it’s a vivid signal for every organization that backups must never be an afterthought. The loss of 858 TB, years of historical data, critical services, and the subsequent charges for negligence illustrate the high sta
For your business: if you haven’t looked at your backup and disaster recovery strategy recently, now is the time. Even the Microsoft 365 platform is not properly backed up, and you could easily loose everything that’s in that platform. If you’re unsure whether your data and systems are adequately protected, it’s worth reaching out for an assessment. Because when it comes to protecting your operations, “good enough” isn’t good enough.
