(News Focus) S Korea-hacking

By Kim Eun-jung

SEOUL, Nov. 3 (Yonhap) -- A relentless wave of cyberattacks on South Korean banks, telecom operators, businesses and government agencies has exposed growing risks to the country's digital economy, highlighting the need for stronger cybersecurity.

The scale and frequency of the breaches have raised concerns that cyber threats could extend beyond personal data theft to disrupt financial services, business operations and industrial supply chains.

The latest series of security breaches has brought those concerns to the highest levels of government.

Most recently, police have launched a preliminary investigation into the online leak of personal information belonging to 168 individuals who traveled aboard the presidential aircraft during a trip to Europe in June, including President Lee Jae Myung, the first lady and Cabinet ministers.

Following the incident, the foreign ministry said it is taking steps to reissue the passports of the president and first lady.

The leak has raised fresh questions about how government agencies handle sensitive information, prompting broader scrutiny of cybersecurity practices.

On Tuesday, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said it will launch emergency security inspections at some 2,100 government agencies nationwide, including central government ministries and local governments.

The spy agency also plans to conduct direct security checks on critical public information and communications infrastructure under its oversight, with the inspections expected to be completed by mid-November.

The financial sector has also been hit by a series of breaches, exposing the scale of the problem.

On Oct. 14, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) said cybersecurity incidents had been confirmed at 16 financial firms, affecting approximately 100,000 customer records.

The affected institutions included commercial banks, savings banks and credit finance companies.

Concerns deepened on Oct. 28, when Daishin Securities, Mirae Asset Global Investments and cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb reported separate cybersecurity incidents involving customer information.

The threat is growing as hackers increasingly turn to artificial intelligence (AI) tools to find security weaknesses and launch attacks against multiple targets.

The recent incidents have highlighted the risks facing South Korea's highly digitalized economy, where financial institutions and businesses rely heavily on shared networks and online services.

A breach at a telecom operator, for example, could expose customer information used for banking and other online services, while an attack on a major cloud provider could disrupt multiple businesses at once.

Experts say the risks also extend to South Korea's key manufacturing industries, including semiconductors, automobiles and shipbuilding, which increasingly rely on connected factories and automated production systems.

Against this backdrop, the government has stepped up efforts to strengthen cybersecurity defenses.

Last month, the Ministry of Science and ICT raised the country's cyber crisis warning level by one notch to "caution," the second lowest in its four-tier system, amid global efforts to address two critical security flaws in PHP, a widely used programming language.

The ministry also plans to inspect around 170 major private-sector IT infrastructure facilities as part of efforts to identify security weaknesses before further breaches occur.

Financial regulators have announced plans to tighten identity checks and access controls, improve information sharing and increase corporate executives' responsibility for cybersecurity.

While major banks, companies and government agencies have pledged to increase cybersecurity spending and tighten security measures, concerns remain that AI-powered attacks could exploit vulnerabilities faster than organizations can address them.

Industry experts say companies need to focus more on preventing attacks rather than simply responding after breaches occur.

"The top priority is to strengthen the fundamentals of cybersecurity by properly establishing basic defenses, including firewalls, encryption, multifactor authentication, and vulnerability detection and response systems," said Kim Jin-soo, chairman of the Korea Information Security Industry Association (KISIA).

"To achieve this, both businesses and the government must significantly increase their cybersecurity investments from current levels," he stressed.

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