Yonhap News2 hours agoBusiness2 min readSouth Korea

(LEAD) Personal info of some 39,000 leaked from Mirae Asset Securities

Quick Look

Mirae Asset Securities Co. reported a data breach affecting approximately 39,000 customers and employees, with unauthorized external access targeting its mobile web phone authentication login service and internal system.
The breach is part of a wider series of financial sector data leaks in South Korea, with over 470,000 records compromised across 37 companies in the past month.

AI-generated summary

Why It Matters

The data breach at Mirae Asset Securities follows similar data leaks at its sister companies, including Mirae Asset Life Insurance, and is part of a series of data leaks across South Korea's financial sector. Since September 30, when the first data leak was detected, 40 data leak incidents have been reported at 37 companies, including commercial banks, financial investment firms, insurance firms, and savings banks.

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The personal information of some 39,000 customers and employees has been leaked from Mirae Asset Securities Co., the country's leading brokerage house, the securities firm said Saturday.

According to Mirae Asset Securities, the account numbers of some 3,800 customers and the personal information of over 35,000 current and former employees, as well as contractors, were leaked.

The South Korean brokerage said unauthorized external access occurred Wednesday and Thursday, targeting its mobile web phone authentication login service and internal system, respectively.

The leaked non-customer, corporate data included names, employee ID numbers, email addresses, mobile phone numbers and passwords.

Mirae Asset said it immediately blocked the affected access routes after detecting suspicious activity from external IP addresses and activated its emergency response system.

The company also said it reported the incident to the Financial Services Commission, the Financial Supervisory Service and the Personal Information Protection Commission.

The data breach came days after its sister companies, including Mirae Asset Life Insurance, suffered similar data leaks.

The data breach at Mirae Asset Securities is the latest in a series of data leaks in the financial sector.

According to the Financial Services Commission, more than 470,000 personal data records have been leaked from 37 companies across the financial sector over the past month, with the amount of funds stolen estimated at 1 billion won (US$745,000).

Since Sept. 30, when the first data leak was detected, a total of 40 data leak incidents have been reported at 37 companies, including four commercial banks, five financial investment firms, three insurance firms and five savings banks, according to the regulator.

What to Watch

AI outlook — possibilities, not facts

Regulators will investigate the data leak incidents across the financial sector
Likely · Within weeks

Open Questions

What specific vulnerabilities were exploited in the mobile web phone authentication login service and internal system?
Has any customer funds been directly stolen from Mirae Asset Securities accounts?
What remedial measures will Mirae Asset Securities implement to prevent future breaches?
Will regulators impose penalties on the affected companies?

(LEAD) Personal info of some 39,000 leaked from Mirae Asset Securities

Quick Look

Mirae Asset Securities Co. reported a data breach affecting approximately 39,000 customers and employees, with unauthorized external access targeting its mobile web phone authentication login service and internal system.
The breach is part of a wider series of financial sector data leaks in South Korea, with over 470,000 records compromised across 37 companies in the past month.