On the 4th, Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eok-won ordered the highest level of vigilance in the financial sector, saying, "The possibility of an attack using artificial intelligence (AI) cannot be ruled out," regarding the information leak from a recent hacking attack that occurred in the financial sector.
Chairman Lee held an emergency inspection meeting of all financial sectors in response to recent infringement threats at the Seoul Government Complex this afternoon and said, "A large number of infringement incidents are being discovered in a short period of time not only in major commercial banks but also in various industries such as savings banks and capital."
He said, “It is a time when the entire financial sector must be seriously aware of the current situation and have the highest level of alertness.”
Regarding the characteristics of this hacking attack, he explained, "We have confirmed cases where areas that received relatively less attention from management, such as external web pages and servers used by loan originators, executives and employees, etc. for business convenience, were used as attack targets."
He then pointed out, “No matter how solid the security system is, one unmanaged gap can become a vulnerability in the entire security system.”
Regarding the leaked information, Chairman Lee said, “To date, no circumstances have been confirmed that sensitive information that could be directly used for fraudulent payments has been leaked.”
However, he said, “We cannot rule out the possibility that it may lead to secondary damage such as voice phishing or smishing that misuses the leaked information,” and added, “We must respond preemptively without letting go of tension.”
He also said to the financial sector, "If a similar accident occurs due to negligence in necessary inspection and response even though there is already shared attack information and accident cases, we will hold the company strictly accountable in accordance with relevant laws."
At the same time, he ordered the financial sector to conduct a quick and thorough security inspection.
Chairman Lee mentioned inspection targets such as externally exposed IT assets and services, authentication and access control, and infringement detection systems, and said, "The overall security system must be thoroughly inspected to ensure there are no gaps or loopholes."
It was ordered to minimize potential risk factors by examining the external contact points and access paths used by executives, employees, loan originators, and consignment companies, and to immediately take necessary consumer protection measures to prevent additional information leaks and financial damage.
He also emphasized the need to strengthen joint response in the financial sector, saying, “In the financial sector, the work and services between financial companies are interconnected, and similar systems and external contact points are often used.”
At the government level, they promised to respond government-wide to threats of infringement by strengthening the cooperation system between related ministries such as the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Personal Information Protection Commission, and the National Police Agency.
He also called for a haste in establishing a security system utilizing AI.
Chairman Lee said, “In order to transform the AI security system, the government is pursuing fundamental institutional improvements, such as implementing emergency relaxation of network separation regulations and considering full lifting,” and emphasized that financial companies should also actively participate in AI security testing and accelerate the transition to the AI security system.
Attending the meeting on this day were heads of all financial industry associations, including banking, financial investment, insurance, credit card companies, savings banks, mutual finance, virtual assets, and fintech, as well as executives from financial companies where infringement incidents occurred.
So far, information leaks have been confirmed at Shinhan, KB Kookmin, Hana, and BNK Busan Bank, and in the second financial sector, Hyundai Capital, Yegaram Savings Bank, and Welcome Savings Bank.
The financial authorities originally planned to report the results on the 7th after each financial company conducted its own inspection during the holiday period that lasts until the 5th, but as the damage spread to the second financial sector over the weekend, they moved up the meeting to this day and began responding.
