President Lee Orders Thorough Investigation into Financial and Public Institution Data Breaches with Serious Awareness

A String of Data Breaches Hits Shinhan, KB, and Hana
Lee Orders "Thorough Measures" After Receiving Briefing

President Lee Jae-myung on October 4 instructed authorities to "take the issue very seriously and ensure a thorough investigation and comprehensive countermeasures" in response to a series of personal data leaks at financial and public institutions.

Kang Yoo-jung, Chief Presidential Spokesperson, announced through a press statement on this day that President Lee gave these instructions after receiving reports on the incidents and the current response status.

President Lee Jae-myung is delivering opening remarks at the Civil Petition Innovation Case Report Meeting held in Sejong Special Autonomous City on October 2, 2026. Photo by Yonhap News

Recently, the financial sector has experienced incidents in which customer information has been leaked through hacking. This situation began when, on September 30, it became known that Shinhan Bank suffered a breach affecting the data of 25,000 customers. According to authorities, similar data leaks have occurred at KB Kookmin Bank, Hana Bank, and BNK Busan Bank through the same method.

The damage has occurred not only at commercial banks but also across the secondary financial sector. Yegaram Savings Bank reported that personal data of 40,000 customers was leaked, while Hyundai Capital also announced that the information of 146 loan solicitors had been compromised.

According to the Personal Information Protection Commission, the total number of personal data leak cases reported last year from both private and public organizations reached 103,550,000—the highest on record. In the first half of this year alone, 432 institutions reported data leaks, with approximately 29,800,000 pieces of personal information exposed.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.