South Korean President, Lee Jae Myung has ordered a thorough investigation and response measures following recent personal data leak incidents at banks, finance companies, and public agencies, Seoul’s presidential office said Sunday.
Regulators Call an Emergency Meeting
Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eog-weon convened an emergency meeting on Sunday with financial industry associations, regulators, and executives from the affected institutions. The FSC warned that the sector must respond with the highest level of vigilance.
Lee also said authorities could not rule out the possibility that artificial intelligence was used in the attacks, calling for an AI attacks defended by AI approach. He gestured broader upgrades to the financial sector’s cybersecurity framework are likely to follow.
A Second Emergency Meeting in Days
Sunday’s meeting came just two days after similar talks on Friday, when the FSC said Shinhan Bank, KB Kookmin Bank, and other institutions had reported cyberattacks. Yonhap news agency separately reported that Hana Bank and Woori Bank had also suffered breaches. None of the banks could be reached for comment outside regular working hours on Sunday.
According to the financial regulator, authorities launched on-site investigations after Shinhan Bank reported a breach on September 30, and have since expanded their probes to cover other reported incidents.
What Regulators Are Requiring Now
The regulator has directed financial institutions to carry out comprehensive security inspections, tighten access controls, minimize external system access, and strengthen consumer protection measures. Authorities also said attack methods, IP addresses, and other threat information would be shared rapidly across the industry to help prevent further incidents.
A Pattern That Looks Broader Than One Target
Yonhap reported that regulators believe the attacks may have involved broad scanning across multiple financial companies for vulnerabilities, rather than targeting a single institution directly. Citing bank data submitted to lawmakers, Yonhap said attack traffic originated from IP addresses across several countries, including the United States, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, and Britain.
Sunday’s emergency meeting was originally scheduled for October 7, but was moved up after additional breaches were discovered at second-tier financial institutions, according to multiple Korean media reports.
Calls to Investigate North Korea’s Involvement
South Korea’s main opposition party, the People Power Party, said authorities should also investigate the possibility of North Korean involvement, pointing to past cyberattacks attributed to Pyongyang against South Korean financial institutions.
