"Hacked Again in 20 Days"... High Alert as 'North Korean IP Attacks' Detected

[Anchor]

Just 20 days after the entire financial sector launched inspections following a security emergency, securities firms and cryptocurrency exchanges have fallen victim to hacking. With North Korean IP addresses even discovered during the hacking process, security fears are spreading once again.

Reporter Kim Gi-tae has the details.

[Reporter]

The targets breached this time are Daishin Securities and Mirae Asset Global Investments, along with the cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb.

At Daishin Securities, which came under attack on October 17 targeting its non-face-to-face account opening integration server, 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 stated that it also detected hacking attempts on some of its web systems on the same day, but blocked the access path, adding that no customer information leaks have been confirmed so far.

At Bithumb, an external intrusion into its internal mobile work system occurred yesterday (October 27), resulting in the leakage of information belonging to about 600 executives and employees.

Whether member information has been leaked is currently under analysis.

Following a series of hacks earlier this month targeting banks and savings banks suspected of utilizing AI tools, the entire financial sector conducted self-inspections on cybersecurity at the government's direction, but the exact same incident happened again about 20 days later.

The Financial Supervisory Service dispatched an on-site inspection team, and the police have launched an investigation.

The government has also stepped in to check the extent of the damage and devise countermeasures, including the presidential National Security Office holding an emergency response meeting.

However, the emphasis remains on autonomous defense.

[Lee Chan-jin / Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service: Financial companies must promptly establish an autonomous defense system to thoroughly manage their own IT assets, actively identify security vulnerabilities, and eliminate them.]

While the masterminds behind the financial sector hacks have not yet been identified, financial authorities stated that they have confirmed attacks originating 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 attempts.

These are mostly so-called scanning accesses aimed at finding security loopholes, and no cases have yet been confirmed to have led to actual breaches.

(Video取材: Kim Heung-ki, Video Editing: Oh Young-taek)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.