Lee Chan‑jin, Chairman of the Financial Supervisory Board, expressed concern at a meeting of the banking industry on the 28th in Seoul’s Yeouido headquarters regarding recent hacking incidents. He emphasized that an all-encompassing hacking incident had occurred in major financial institutions the day before, and that it could spread across the entire financial sector, reaffirming the importance of IT security.
The chairman noted that with the emergence of hacking methods using artificial intelligence (AI), security vulnerabilities can be easily detected and repeated attacks can become systematic. Accordingly, financial companies were ordered to strengthen their asset management and defense systems. He stated that “IT security is a core function for protecting customers’ assets and information and for maintaining financial trust,” and expressed determination to lead the industry in enhancing IT security capabilities.
Recently, banks, securities firms, insurance companies, and other financial institutions have all experienced hacking incidents, but the securities and insurance sectors had not reported any such incidents. However, on the 26th, a personal data leakage incident occurred at Myeong‑Eset Seongmyeong (?), and it was later revealed that hacking incidents also took place in the securities industry; this threat appears to spread across the entire financial sector.
Financial sector officials plan to revise IT asset management systems and defense procedures to respond to these events, and are pushing forward security enhancement policies. This is considered a necessary measure for maintaining stability and trustworthiness of the financial system.