AI hackers target Korean banks, prompting nationwide security review | #hacking | #cybersecurity | #infosec | #comptia | #pentest | #hacker
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Korea’s financial industry, from major commercial banks to secondary financial firms, has recently fallen victim to AI hackers. The targets include the five largest banks: KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH Nonghyup.
KB Kookmin Bank announced on Friday that “personal and credit information belonging to 119 customers was leaked as a result of an external breach.”
An AI agent — an autonomous system capable of making decisions and taking action on its own — is believed to have hacked a mobile work support system used by employees and accessed customers’ names, phone numbers, addresses and encrypted resident registration numbers. The breach did not involve their financial transaction data, including from internet and mobile banking.
KB Kookmin shut down the affected server and blocked its access route after detecting signs of a possible leak on Wednesday.
Also on Friday, Hana Bank stated that “an external hacking agent attempted to break into [its] sales support system, which resulted in the leak of 89 customers’ personal information.”
“The compromised data included their names, resident registration numbers, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, mobile numbers and workplaces,” the company said.
No financial transaction data was leaked.
Similar cyberattacks have also targeted Woori Bank, NH Nonghyup Bank and BNK Financial Group. While Woori and NH Nonghyup reported no leaks involving customers’ information, BNK Financial said that clients’ personal information had been exposed in 11 cases.
Shinhan Bank revealed on Thursday that hackers had gained unauthorized access to a service used exclusively by loan brokers, exposing data on more than 25,000 customers.
The series of attacks exemplifies a new cybersecurity threat for banks. AI agents repeatedly sought weak points in these companies’ systems, from employee mobile platforms to sales support and loan broker services, though they failed to access customers’ financial transaction data.
The Financial Services Commission (FSC) ordered an industrywide security review at an emergency meeting on Friday afternoon, as officials sought to identify the pattern of the attacks and swiftly bolster defenses. Officials from the Financial Supervisory Service and the Financial Security Institute attended the meeting, presided over by FSC Secretary General Shin Jin-chang.
The FSC told financial firms to identify IT assets and services, including AI systems, that are readily accessible from outside and conduct security checks. It also ordered them to look for any pathways that could allow access to internal information without authentication.
The commission also called for companies to share internet protocol, or IP, addresses used in the attacks and records of intrusion attempts with agencies including the Korea Internet & Security Agency and submit any security findings promptly.
“We must be fully prepared to minimize harm to consumers after an incident occurs,” FSC Secretary General Shin said. “We will thoroughly analyze the causes of the breaches and the methods used in the attacks and develop the necessary regulatory measures.”
The timing of the breaches, just ahead of this month’s National Assembly audit, is likely to put bank cybersecurity high on lawmakers’ agenda.
“We cannot simply watch as customer data is repeatedly leaked from banks entrusted with the public’s assets and credit information,” Democratic Party Rep. Park Sang-hyuk, who sits on the parliamentary National Policy Committee, wrote on Facebook on Friday.
“We will demand accountability for their repeated security failures and put measures in place to address them.”
BY KIM DO-NYUN [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
