Security Breached Again Just 20 Days After Safety Inspection… Multiple North Korean IPs Detected

[Anchor]

Following hacking incidents in the financial sector, securities firms and cryptocurrency exchanges have also been breached. This comes just 20 days after an emergency security inspection across the entire financial sector. With North Korean IP addresses even discovered in attacks on the financial sector, fear regarding security is spreading throughout the entire industry.

Reporter Kim Gi-tae has the details.

[Reporter]

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

At Daishin Securities, which was attacked on October 17 targeting its non-face-to-face account opening linkage 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 occurred into the internal mobile work system, resulting in the leakage of information belonging to approximately 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 government ordered all financial institutions to conduct self-cybersecurity inspections, but the exact same thing happened again about 20 days later.

The Financial Supervisory Service immediately 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 inspect the damage status and formulate countermeasures.

However, what continues to be emphasized is "autonomous defense."

[Lee Chan-jin / Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service: Financial institutions must thoroughly manage their IT assets themselves, proactively identify and eliminate security vulnerabilities, and swiftly establish an autonomous defense system.]

While the mastermind behind the financial sector hacks has not yet been identified, financial authorities announced that they have confirmed attacks originating from North Korean IP ranges targeting South Korea's financial sector.

Attacks from North Korean IPs confirmed since October 21 have reached approximately 4.4 million cases.

These are primarily so-called "scan-type accesses" attempting to find gaps in security, and no cases leading to actual breaches have been confirmed yet.

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