[Anchor]

A group that hacked 8.2 million personal information records from major conglomerate affiliates and hospitals using artificial intelligence has been apprehended by the police. They also attempted to extort hundreds of millions of won by threatening to leak the hacking incidents. It was revealed that they used the same system presumed to have been used in recent financial sector hacks.

Reporter Jeong Jiyeon has the details.

[Reporter]

Police place handcuffs on the arms of a man wearing a pulled-down cap.

[Suspect: What I did was hacking and blackmailing...] (Voice)

A group that spent a year starting in September of last year hacking the computer networks of around 90 domestic companies using generative artificial intelligence has been caught by the police.

They face charges of stealing 8.2 million personal information records from academies, hospitals, and conglomerate affiliates, and then demanding money and valuables by threatening to distribute them.

Investigations revealed that the group sent emails attaching hacked information such as names, addresses, and phone numbers, threatening that if the hacking became known, the companies would suffer damage to their images and face penalties. They demanded a total of 360 million won worth of cryptocurrency from 38 companies.

[Hacking Ring Member / Victim Company Employee: Do you agree to the personal information leak? (No, I do not agree.) Well, what should we do then? (What am I supposed to do?) Pass this on to the CEO and have them contact us.] (Voice)

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency received a complaint from a victim company in June and initiated an investigation, ultimately apprehending seven members of the ring, including the mastermind, four months later.

The mastermind, surnamed A, worked in security inspections at a security company and learned hacking techniques through blogs and other sources.

During the crimes, they also used the AI autonomous penetration system, which was recently used in financial sector hacking incidents. It was confirmed that instead of humans, the AI autonomously found system vulnerabilities to hack companies indiscriminately.

Police have forwarded the mastermind A to the prosecution in custody and are investigating whether there are any additional hacking victims.

(Photo: Yonhap News)

Reported by Choi Dae-woong | Video by Yoon Tae-ho | VJ: Noh Jaemin | Graphics by Kim Hankil