금융권 동시다발 덮친 개인정보 AI 해킹…“더 많은 침투·시도 나올 수도”

Last month's end, a sweeping AI-powered hack targeting global banks occurred, affecting both commercial and savings banks, as well as credit unions, simultaneously. Attackers exploited AI agents to carry out identical attacks, suggesting a single threat actor. Concerns emerged that more personal data breaches and attempts would arise due to the incident.

According to financial authorities and banks, the hacked institutions included Shinhan Bank, KB National Bank, Hanara Bank, Busan Bank, Korea Bank, and NH Rural Bank. In late September, a hacker accessed a mobile loan inquiry service on Shinhan Bank, stealing personal data for around 25,000 customers, such as names, phone numbers, annual income, occupation, and partial residential registration numbers.

Subsequently, NH Bank and the National Bank experienced similar incidents, where employee mobile work systems led to the disclosure of 119 and 89 customers' information, respectively. Busan Bank also fell victim to a web server attack attempt, exposing the information of 11 external development staff. Rural Bank, too, suffered a similar attack, but no real data loss occurred.

Last month, the mutual savings bank Yeonggyo Savings Bank reported that 40,000 customer names, birth dates, and phone numbers were leaked following a hacking attack. Modern Capital discovered that 146 loan inquiry names, phone numbers, email addresses, and residential registration numbers were exposed. The New Village Bank Central Association also identified the same foreign IP address attempting to access their systems, preventing information leakage.

Additionally, NH Rural Bank and the cooperative mutual financial institution faced similar intrusion attempts, but defense was successful. Various financial sectors experienced hacking attacks within days, raising concerns about potential expansions to securities, insurance, card payment, and other financial institutions. Financial officials noted that banks are required to report system breaches to financial authorities, even without actual data loss, as the attack could have been significantly more extensive than currently known.