Comment by makeitdouble

I think it doesn't need to be the encryption breaking per se.

It could be a gov laptop with the encryption keys left at a bar. Or the wrong keys saved on the system and the backups can't actually be decrypted. Or the keys being reused at large scale and leaked/guessed from lower security area. etc.

Relying on encryption requires operation knowledge and discipline. At some point, a base level of competency is required anyway, I'm not just sure encryption would have saved them as much as we'd wish it would.

To your point, I'd assume high profile incidents like this one will put more pressure to do radical changes, and in particular to treat digital data as a more critical asset that you can't hand down to the crookest corrupt entity willy nilly just for the kickback.

South Korea doesn't lack competent people, but hiring them and letting them at the helm sounds like a tough task.