(LEAD) Personal info of some 39,000 leaked from Mirae Asset Securities

SEOUL, Nov. 7 (Yonhap) -- Personal data of approximately 39,000 individuals has been compromised at Mirae Asset Securities, South Korea's leading brokerage firm. The leak, disclosed on Saturday, exposed account numbers of around 3,800 customers and sensitive information of over 35,000 former and current employees and contractors, according to the affected company.

The breach transpired on Wednesday and Thursday, targeting the firm's mobile web phone authentication login service and internal systems, respectively. Non-customer data, comprising names, employee IDs, email addresses, mobile phone numbers, and passwords, was also leaked. In response, Mirae Asset swiftly blocked the compromised access points and activated its emergency response protocol.

The company promptly notified the Financial Services Commission, Financial Supervisory Service, and Personal Information Protection Commission about the incident.

The data breach occurred just days following similar leaks at Mirae Asset Life Insurance, another sister company of Mirae Asset Securities. The Financial Services Commission reported that over 470,000 personal records have been leaked from 37 financial sector firms within the past month, with estimated stolen funds totaling 1 billion won (approximately US$745,000).

Since September 30, when the first data leak was detected, 40 incidents of data breaches affecting 37 companies, including commercial banks, financial investment firms, insurance firms, and savings banks, have been reported, according to the regulator.