Financial authorities order emergency security checks at banks, card companies

Financial authorities have ordered banks and credit card companies to conduct internal security checks, with plans to receive the results and draw up measures to improve the regulatory system.

The Financial Services Commission held an emergency response meeting Friday, chaired by Secretary General Shin Jin-chang, where participants shared details of the data breach incidents, including attack types and methods, and discussed how to respond, according to Yonhap.

At the meeting, Shin ordered banks and card companies to conduct security checks across all externally exposed IT systems. He stressed that institutions must carry out thorough self-inspections "so that the public does not feel anxious."

Financial firms are required to identify all externally exposed IT assets and services and to conduct intensive checks on security vulnerabilities and access controls. Every system accessible from outside — regardless of whether it serves customers directly or what type of service it provides — falls within the scope of the inspection.

The FSC also urged firms to minimize the information exposed externally and to examine whether any pathways exist that allow access to internal data without authentication. It called for rigorous checks to ensure that authentication procedures are not omitted or inadequately applied when internal data is accessed.

Financial authorities said they will provide a security vulnerability checklist to support firms conducting their own checks and will receive the results promptly.

Earlier, Shinhan Bank announced Thursday that the unauthorized hacking of its communications protocol code had resulted in the leak of personal data belonging to about 25,000 customers. KB Kookmin Bank also confirmed, through its own internal review, that external intrusions had led to the leak of more than 100 customer records.

Hana Bank and BNK Busan Bank were also found Friday to have suffered data breaches. Staff from the Financial Supervisory Service and the Korea Financial Security Institute have been dispatched to all four banks to conduct on-site investigations.