[Anchor]
Just three weeks after all financial institutions conducted emergency security inspections, information leaks have occurred once again at securities firms and cryptocurrency exchanges. With over 4.4 million hacking attempts traced to North Korean IP addresses, financial sector information security is on high alert.
Reporter Kim Gi-tae has the story.
[Reporter]
The institutions breached this time are Daishin Securities, Mirae Asset Global Investments, and the cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb.
At Daishin Securities, which was targeted by an attack on its non-face-to-face account opening linkage server on October 17, personal information such as the names and mobile phone numbers of over 38,000 customers, as well as credit information including encrypted account numbers, was leaked.
Mirae Asset also detected hacking attempts targeting some of its web systems on the same day, but stated that it blocked the access route and no customer information leaks have been confirmed so far.
At Bithumb, an external intrusion into the internal mobile work system resulted in the leakage of information belonging to around 600 executives and employees.
Whether member information was leaked is currently under analysis.
Following a series of hacks earlier this month—presumed to have utilized AI tools—targeting banks and savings banks, the entire financial sector conducted self-inspections of cybersecurity upon government orders. However, the exact same incidents have happened again just about 20 days later.
The Financial Supervisory Service dispatched an on-site inspection team, and the police have launched an investigation.
The National Security Office of the Presidential Office also held an emergency response meeting as the government set out to assess the scale of damage and formulate countermeasures.
However, the emphasis remains on autonomous defense.
[Lee Chan-jin / Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service: Financial institutions must quickly establish an autonomous defense system in which they thoroughly manage their own IT assets, actively identify security vulnerabilities, and eliminate them.]
While the mastermind behind the financial sector hacks has yet to be identified, financial authorities announced that they have confirmed attacks from North Korean IP ranges targeting South Korea's financial sector.
North Korean IP attacks identified since October 21 have reached approximately 4.4 million cases.
These are predominantly so-called "scan-style approaches" aimed at finding security loopholes, and no cases leading to actual breaches have been confirmed as of yet.
(Video by: Kim Heung-ki, Video Editing by: Oh Young-taek)
※
Copying, redistribution, and unauthorized use in AI training are strictly prohibited.