After Bank Hack, Mirae Asset Life Also Hit... Scale of Personal Data Leak to Emerge Tomorrow

First Confirmed Personal Information Breach at an Insurer
Customer Application System and Parts of Website Compromised
KB Kookmin Bank Confirms Additional Data Leak... Total Affected Rises to 2,210

As personal information breaches continue to occur at financial companies, Mirae Asset Life Insurance has become the first insurer to confirm a data leak. The company is analyzing log records and other information to determine how the data was leaked and the scope of the breach. The specific scale of the damage is expected to be determined as early as October 28.

According to the financial sector on October 27, Mirae Asset Life Insurance detected unusual activity in some of its systems on October 25. After analyzing the incident with an external specialist organization, the company confirmed early on October 26 that personal information had been leaked. The breach is believed to have affected the customer application system and parts of the company website. The company said the hacker remained on its website for more than 10 minutes, and that it confirmed the data leak while tracing the access route afterward. The Financial Supervisory Service has since launched an urgent on-site inspection to investigate the specific scale of the damage and the circumstances surrounding the incident.

A Mirae Asset Life Insurance official said, "We are reviewing relevant records and files along the route the hacker used to gain access to determine whether they contain personal information and to establish the scope of the leak. We expect to complete the log analysis and determine the specific scale of the damage as early as October 28."

The key question is whether this incident resulted from the same or a similar type of attack or access route as previous hacking incidents in the financial sector. Mirae Asset Life Insurance received a "satisfactory" rating in an inspection based on the security checklist distributed by financial authorities following information security incidents in the sector. If this incident resulted from the same method as previous attacks, the effectiveness of the urgent inspections could come under scrutiny, as the company was unable to prevent a data leak despite receiving a satisfactory rating in the security inspection.

Mirae Asset Life Insurance believes the attack was unlikely to have used the same method or access route as previous incidents, given that it complied with the security settings specified in the checklist. However, the actual type of attack and access route are expected to be determined only after the ongoing investigation is completed.

Some have also pointed out that it is difficult to prevent all hacking attacks using only the checklist prepared by financial authorities. More than 100,000 hacking attempts targeting the financial sector occur every day, making it difficult to guarantee financial companies' overall security solely by checking whether they comply with the items in the urgent inspection. A financial authorities official said, "The checklist consists of inspection items for an urgent response. Complying with all 12 items does not mean that every type of hacking can be prevented. The type of attack and access route in this incident have yet to be determined."

The number of victims of hacking in the banking sector has also increased. KB Kookmin Bank announced on October 26 that information belonging to a total of 2,210 people had been leaked in a hacking incident that occurred early in October. The number of people initially identified as affected immediately after the incident was 119. However, during an additional investigation by the Financial Security Institute and the process of submitting materials, the bank confirmed that information belonging to another 2,091 people had been taken. Among them were 1,631 customers and 460 executives and employees. A Kookmin Bank official said, "We plan to notify the additional customers identified of the data leak and provide guidance on how to prevent secondary harm."

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