South Korea's financial regulator says rules easing for AI security going smoothly

SEOUL, Sept. 3 (Yonhap) -- The country's financial regulator said Thursday that moves to ease rules on so-called network separation in order to help financial companies better respond to rising security threats in the artificial intelligence (AI) age are going smoothly.

Earlier, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) said it will review plans to allow AI use for security purposes by easing network separation rules for financial firms.

Financial firms here are required to separate their internal network systems from external ones to stem cyber threats, such as hacking.

But high-end AI models, such as Mythos, have emerged as new types of major security threats, raising the need for financial companies to use AI technologies for security purposes.

According to the regulator, 75 financial firms applied for a second round of tests, up from 49 for the first-round test.

A total of 15 firms will be selected for the network separation after their measures are reviewed, it said.

They are required to map out measures to replace the network separation to better detect and improve network security loopholes.

The FSC said it will unveil details of a third round of tests after reviewing the results of the previous rounds of tests.