The Korea Financial Security Institute, which is responsible for security in the financial sector, has been hit by a hacking attack. It has been confirmed that some internal information related to financial companies’ security assessments leaked out.
The institute found on the 9th that some data had been leaked in a hack. It then reported this to authorities including the Financial Services Commission.
The target of the attack was the information protection continuous assessment site. The system supports continuous assessment of financial firms’ security status. It is suggested that some of the answers financial firms submitted about their own security status may have leaked.
The continuous assessment support system’s website is currently closed. The screen shows only a notice that the server is temporarily halted for a service overhaul.
The institute individually notified financial firms suspected of being affected about the leak. It is reported to maintain that sensitive information such as personal data was not leaked.
However, the institute holds sensitive data on the financial sector as a whole. For this reason, work is reportedly under way to determine the exact nature and scope of the leaked data and the attack method. According to the institute’s published materials, about 3,000 entities are subject to this year’s information protection continuous assessment. These companies are inspected on how they protect personal credit information.
A financial authority official said, “It appears that no sensitive personal information was leaked.” The official added, “Because the institute that monitors hacking-related developments in the financial sector was itself hacked, we must view it seriously in terms of credibility, and we have demanded a thorough inspection and measures to prevent a recurrence.”
The institute is an affiliate of the FSC. It handles responses to cyber threats in the financial sector, research on financial security policy and technology, and financial security education. So far, the damage is known not to have spread to the systems of other financial authorities such as the FSC and the Financial Supervisory Service.