Over 470,000 pieces of personal data leaked from 37 financial firms: FSC

SEOUL, Nov. 5 (Yonhap) -- 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), the financial regulator said Thursday.

The Financial Services Commission (FSC) held a meeting with officials from financial trade associations and government agencies, including the Financial Supervisory Service and the Financial Security Institute, to review data protection systems and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities in the financial sector.

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 FSC.

The regulator said the leaked data did not include sensitive personal information that could be used for illegal financial transactions, such as customers' names, national identification numbers or bank account numbers.

Funds held by some smaller brokerages, insurers and online financial businesses were stolen, while their customers' money remained intact, the FSC added.

The FSC said it will conduct security checks at 580 financial companies across the sector and review their internal security control systems by the end of November.

"We will not tolerate practices that cause incidents or exacerbate damage by ignoring known security risks, neglecting even basic management duties or relying on perfunctory inspections and complacent responses," FSC Chairman Lee Eog-weon said.

"We will strictly hold management, including the CEO, accountable in accordance with relevant laws and regulations for serious management failures or negligence in response."