Saemaul Geumgo has confirmed a hacking attack that resulted in the leakage of customer information affecting over 400 people, and has reported the incident to financial authorities, it was learned.

According to the financial sector, it was confirmed that some personal information, including names, addresses, and resident registration numbers of around 400 customers, was leaked from Saemaul Geumgo.

The cyberattack took place during the holiday period on the afternoon of the 10th, and the report to authorities was filed today (the 13th).

The Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives posted an apology letter on its website under the name of the head of the Credit and Mutual Aid Business, stating, "Upon recognizing the leak, the Federation blocked the IP address accessed by the hacker as well as the IP addresses used for proxy access, and carried out additional vulnerability inspections and security reinforcement measures for the website."

While the leaked personal and credit information varies by individual, it has been confirmed to include customer numbers, names, encrypted resident registration numbers, account numbers, dates of birth, mobile phone numbers, home phone numbers, work phone numbers, home addresses, work addresses, email addresses, and account balances.

Individual notifications are currently being sent to the customers whose leaks have been confirmed, and the institution promised to fully compensate customers if any damages occur due to this leak.

The Federation emphasized, "Taking this incident with utmost seriousness, we will review our overall personal and credit information protection systems and management procedures while strengthening our security systems to do our utmost to prevent similar incidents from recurring."

Previously, Saemaul Geumgo had blocked abnormal access from overseas IPs to prevent leaks, but it was reported that information leakage occurred after facing new attacks from dozens of different IPs this time.

The connection between this incident and the recent hacking attacks utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) agents, which have been successively identified in the financial sector, has not yet been confirmed.

Financial authorities are conducting an investigation with various possibilities in mind.

Earlier this month, security breaches were identified at seven financial companies: Shinhan Bank, KB Kookmin Bank, Hana Bank, BNK Busan Bank, Yegaram Savings Bank, Welcome Savings Bank, and Hyundai Capital.

(Photo: Yonhap News)