South Korea’s president orders in-depth investigation into bank data leaks

South Korea’s President, Lee Jae Myung, has ordered an in-depth investigation and response measures for the recent incidents of personal data leaks at banks, financial companies and public agencies, as Reuters reports, citing a statement by the presidential office in Seoul on Sunday.

The chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), Lee Eog-weon, convened an emergency meeting on Sunday with financial industry associations, regulators and the heads of the affected institutions, warning that the sector must respond with the highest level of vigilance, according to an FSC statement.

Lee said the authorities could not rule out the possibility that artificial intelligence was used in the attacks and called for an “AI attack, AI defence” approach, while also signalling broader improvements to the financial sector’s cybersecurity framework.

Sunday’s meeting followed similar talks on Friday, when the FSC had announced that Shinhan Bank, KB Kookmin Bank and other banks had reported cyberattacks, while the Yonhap news agency reported that Hana Bank and Woori Bank had also suffered breaches.

The regulator said on-site investigations had begun after Shinhan Bank reported a breach on 30 September and were later extended to other reported incidents. Financial institutions were instructed to carry out comprehensive security inspections, tighten access controls, minimise external access to systems and strengthen consumer protection measures.

According to Yonhap, regulators believe the attacks may have broadly scanned many financial companies for weaknesses, without targeting a single institution, while the attack traffic is said to have come from IP addresses in several countries, including the U.S., Japan, Singapore, Vietnam and Britain. Sunday’s emergency meeting was brought forward from 7 October, after further breaches were discovered at second-tier financial institutions, Korean media report.

The main opposition party, the People Power Party, asked the authorities to also investigate the possibility of North Korea’s involvement, citing past cyberattacks attributed to Pyongyang against South Korean financial institutions.