"Pushing Through Until It Finds a Way"... Banks Go on High Alert

[Anchor]

Following Shinhan Bank yesterday (October 1), customer personal information has now been leaked at KB Kookmin, Hana, and Busan Bank. In addition to these four banks, there were further hacking attempts targeting other banks as well. While the exact details have not yet been uncovered, signs of artificial intelligence being utilized have been detected.

Reporting by Kim Hye-min.

[Reporter]

KB Kookmin Bank announced that personal information belonging to 119 customers was leaked due to an external breach.

The leaked data includes names, phone numbers, addresses, and encrypted resident registration numbers.

It was determined that a mobile work support system for employees was used as the hacking pathway.

The bank explained that the breach has nothing to do with general customer financial transactions, such as internet banking or mobile banking.

At Hana Bank, the information of 89 customers—including resident registration numbers, names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, mobile numbers, and workplace names—was leaked.

Hana Bank stated that there was abnormal access to its sales support system.

At BNK Busan Bank, it was found that the personal information of 11 outsourced development employees was leaked early this morning through a mobile sales support system for employees.

Previously, at Shinhan Bank yesterday, the information of 25,000 customers was leaked after a webpage used by loan solicitors was initially hacked.

In all four cases, personal information was leaked as the banks' internal business systems were breached.

While it has not been confirmed whether the incidents were committed by the same group, circumstances point to the use of AI in terms of the timing and methods of the attacks.

[Interview / Professor Hwang Seok-jin / Dongguk University Graduate School of Information Security: They keep probing and breaking through until they find a way. Therefore, the timing and other aspects involved were completely beyond what could be done manually.]

Woori Bank and Nonghyup also came under the same type of attacks, but it is known that no information leaks occurred.

Financial authorities held an emergency response meeting, ordering a comprehensive inspection of all externally exposed systems and launching an investigation into the exact circumstances.

(Video Editing: Lim Yeojin, Design: Kim Yeji)

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