1. What is K-net ?

K-net is the nationwide exclusive government information and communication network used both by central and local government institutions which supports efficient government businesses and public services. It is the very network that connects all government information as one.

Managing and operating K-net is one of the important responsibilities of NIRS.


2. Why Korean Government decided to implement K-net ?

As part of the Korean Government’s constant efforts to manage national information as efficiently as possible started to make since 1990, government’s main artery for information communication, K-net was implemented in 2009.

Today, K-net is used by about 700 government institutions nationwide which plays various crucial roles. It is not only responsible for information distribution among the agencies but also for using external communication services or connecting data with NIRS.


3. Is K-net implemented physically separated for exclusive government use?

NIRS has taken Government Network Service system in K-net operation.

It is one of the efficient network operation management systems with enhanced security guaranteed. The corresponding net would be separated as a private one after negotiating fares, terms and conditions per provided services with ISPs.

NIRS has connected GNS providers and ISPs to the common infrastructure so that it can serve the user institutions with various and quality services.


4. How is security of K-net being managed?

Based on the network separation policy, internet of K-net are physically separated from intranet to reinforce security and to provide quality network services.

K-net is securely managed by multi-layered defense systems and a number of smart analysis systems. Various incidents could be prevented through uninterrupted 24/7 traffic monitoring system and real-time incident detection system.
Events generated from security device are collected in nSIMS, the Big Data log analysis system of NIRS which could be analyzed and responded in real time at the security Operation Center (SOC).

It is supposed for increasing numbers of cyber threats to be constantly developed for sure, NIRS has devoted to introducing an A.I.-based security management system by steps to reinforce the current capability for recent couple of years.


5. What is National Integrated Network (NIN)?

Expanded notion of K-net is the “National Integrated Network (NIN).” NIN implementation/operation project is to build up the pan-governmental network platform environment which is to newly configure nets, used to be operated independently by 48 government agencies.

To improve network survivability, NIRS not only has worked on circuits, nodes and ISPs redundantly, but also introduced one of the new technologies in the field such as T-SDN* which could handle a client’s demand like backbone net extension more flexibly.
(* T-SDN : Transport Software Defined Network)

The project is expected to be wrapped up until the end of next year in 2022. Private nets re-engineering and constant improvement works would be carried out with continual operation supports by introducing technologies in the field such as Quantum Cryptography Communication.


6. Tell us about more about the benefits of National Integrated Network.

First of all, network survivability could be secured by working with more than one ISP partners for any contingency.

Improvement of national security defense system could be anticipated for pan-governmental scale of defense scheme over external cyber threats would be ready to go. Prompt net extension with SDN technology for high volumed data such as Big Data or Cloud would also be one of the remarkable advantages we can foresee with completing National Integrated Network.

On top of that, NIRS could save some government funds over network operation as expenditure have spent for individual nets managed by 48 government institutions would be cut off from integration efficiency.


7. Could you let us know about the total availability of NIN? How about the current average traffic of them ?

Total bandwidth of backbone nets of NIN are 860Gbps* for the 1st net and 530Gbps for the 2nd net. Currently, the traffics are not considered as sizable yet since it is still early stage of conversion, however, it is expected for them to be getting larger as NIN would be completed by stages.
* Gbps : Giga bit per second


8. How are K-net services being monitored?

Currently, NIRS operates a house-designed Network Management System(NMS).

Core nodes in NIRS Daejeon and Seoul Annex Complex have observed related circuits of government complexes, local governments and local administrative complexes and more.

NIRS is conducting compatibility verification for now whether the new monitoring system implemented for NIN would also work for K-net. Once it would turn out to be alright, it would also be applied to K-net by steps.


9. How would NIN services be monitored?

Network Operations Center (NOC) for NIN would be placed in new government complex in Sejong which would provide 24/7 network monitoring services.

The NOC would visualize various network status by getting information from ISP’s, provide customized monitoring service per each client and support cross-monitoring among government institutions.


10. Does NIRS employee other communications means other than optical fiber such as satellites ?

Currently backbone nets’ of K-net are based on optical fiber as well as NIN.


11. Any suggestion or recommendation to those countries who are working on or planning to proceed or implement ‘National (integrated) network’?

[K-net perspective]
K-net should be able to support government businesses and public services uninterruptedly.

It is not only required to be device-redundant when implemented to be prepared for any device failure such as switch or security gadget but also route-redundant when backbone planning to be able to handle network related incidents.

It has to be seamless-able as it is directly connected to most people’s lives. Recovery practice should be as prompt as possible if incident happenings are inevitable.

[National Integrated Net perspective]
You want to organize a finest network professional group who could design a reliable national network and be responsible for problem solving processes. It is necessary to form a client board committee in advance to deal with stakeholders’ needs, opinions and interests to work on the project smoothly.

Plus, preparing an exclusive department dealing with policy making, new technology introduction and securing budget for constant improvement is considered crucial.