[Anchor]
As information leak damages due to hacking spread from commercial banks to savings banks and capital firms, the entire financial sector is on high alert. It has been revealed that a total of seven financial institutions have suffered damages from hacking presumed to use new methods leveraging AI. Financial authorities have convened an emergency meeting.
Our first report is by reporter Jeon Hyeong-u.
[Reporter]
The number of financial companies where financial authorities have confirmed information leak damages to date stands at seven.
Following four commercial banks including Shinhan, Kookmin, Hana, and Busan, as well as Yegaram Savings Bank and Hyundai Capital, it was additionally confirmed that corporate customer information was leaked from Welcome Savings Bank.
It is estimated that around 2,200 pieces of corporate customer-related information, such as corporate managers' names, emails, and phone numbers, were leaked.
As there were also institutions that successfully warded off hacking attempts in addition to these seven, this hacking attack occurred simultaneously across the financial sector.
In response, financial authorities held an emergency inspection meeting attended by representatives from the entire financial industry, including banks, secondary financial sectors, internet banks, and fintech companies, even during the holiday period.
Financial authorities noted that there is a possibility this hacking utilized AI tools.
[Lee Eog-weon / Chairman of the Financial Services Commission: We cannot rule out the possibility of hacking attacks utilizing AI. We must hurry to establish a security system where AI attacks are defended by AI.]
Investigation results so far show that the same attacker's IP address was found across various breach sites, and it was ascertained that the attacks were carried out continuously while changing IPs.
The hackers targeted auxiliary systems with relatively weak security rather than payment systems with strong security.
Web page servers or mobile devices used for business purposes by loan recruiters or employees served as the "backdoor" for data theft.
There were also cases where malicious code was installed on servers to acquire administrator privileges before customer information was stolen.
President Lee Jae-myung instructed that "thorough investigations and full preparedness for countermeasures" be carried out regarding this matter.
Financial authorities have instructed banks and card companies to complete emergency inspections by the 6th, and securities firms, insurers, and savings banks by the 8th.
(Camera: Cho Choon-dong, Video Editing: Kim Jin-won)
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