FSC chief urges top financial groups to brace for AI-era hacking, voice phishing threats

Forum addresses emerging digital threats facing financial sector

Government, industry pledge close cooperation on cybersecurity

Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eok-won (center) delivers opening remarks at a forum on countering emerging digital threats, held Wednesday afternoon at the Korea Federation of Banks building in Jung-gu, Seoul. The forum was attended by Korea Federation of Banks Chairman Cho Yong-byoung and the heads of the five major financial holding companies — KB, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH NongHyup. [FSC]

Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eok-won met Wednesday with the heads of the five major financial holding companies — KB, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH NongHyup — urging them to mount a thorough defense against hacking, voice phishing and other threats in the era of AI transformation.

The FSC held the forum Wednesday afternoon at the Korea Federation of Banks building in Jung-gu, Seoul, with Federation Chairman Cho Yong-byoung and the five group chiefs in attendance. Participants shared their understanding of the current landscape and risks posed by digital threats, including security breaches from frontier AI systems and phishing crimes exploiting advanced AI technology.

Lee said the age of AI transformation "is an opportunity for a new leap forward, but also an adventure that confronts us with challenges and threats we have never faced before," and outlined the government's response measures, including an emergency easing of network separation regulations.

He stressed that the government would "actively review and push forward, with a target of implementing within this year, a plan to fully lift network separation regulations for financial firms that demonstrate advanced AI and cybersecurity capabilities."

Lee also described plans to upgrade ASAP, an AI platform for sharing and analyzing voice phishing intelligence, and to establish guidelines enabling the immediate freezing of accounts linked to new types of phishing crimes. He added that the government "plans to move quickly on introducing a no-fault liability regime to strengthen accountability in the financial sector and provide effective relief to victims."

Lee called on the financial holding companies to take an active stance against the new digital threats.

On frontier AI threats, he asked them to "actively participate in the AI security testing the government has prepared and cooperate to ensure that the results and specific response guidelines are shared across the entire financial sector." He also urged them to "think ahead about a concrete vision and plan for integrating AI across all aspects of financial company management, in preparation for the full lifting of network separation rules."

He asked the groups to "pay close attention to deploying human and material resources and establishing clear customer response manuals so that accounts can be frozen quickly and victims compensated promptly, covering new types of phishing crimes as well," and called for cooperation with operational units at police and the Financial Intelligence Unit.

FSC Chairman Lee Eok-won (seventh from left) poses for a photo with key attendees at the forum on countering emerging digital threats, held Wednesday afternoon at the Korea Federation of Banks building in Jung-gu, Seoul. Pictured with Lee are Korea Federation of Banks Chairman Cho Yong-byoung (third from right), Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Jin Ok-dong (second from right), Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo (fourth from left), NongHyup Financial Group Chairman Lee Chan-woo (second from left), Woori Financial Group Chairman Lim Jong-ryong (third from left) and KB Kookmin Bank President Lee Hwan-joo (far right). [FSC]

Lee also called on the groups to build a company-wide response to digital threats and generate success stories. "CEO-level attention and sustained, proactive investment are needed," he said, urging the holding companies to bolster their capabilities through in-house penetration testing and scenario-based crisis response drills. He asked them to ensure every affiliate strictly adheres to security fundamentals such as IT asset management and timely security patching.

He further asked the groups to "take an active interest in blocking phishing crimes and compensating victims — for instance, by sharing phishing intelligence across affiliates such as banks, card companies and insurers, or by developing proprietary insurance products."

"AI transformation is a road not yet traveled," Lee said. "It is not easy to venture into without sufficient security and AI capabilities in place, and it is a domain where tangible results are hard to achieve quickly. The more capable and well-resourced a financial firm is, the more it must boldly break from conventional approaches, lead the market and accumulate success stories — only then can the many other financial firms use those as a guide and confidently embrace innovation."

Wednesday's forum was attended by Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Jin Ok-dong, Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo, NongHyup Financial Group Chairman Lee Chan-woo and Woori Financial Group Chairman Lim Jong-ryong. KB Kookmin Bank President Lee Hwan-joo represented KB Financial Group in place of Chairman Yang Jong-hee.

Participants agreed that "with the emergence of frontier AI heightening vigilance worldwide, cooperation between the government and the private sector is critically important," and said the holding companies are pursuing various efforts at the group level, including the adoption of AI-based security monitoring and penetration testing solutions.

They also pledged to "move quickly to prepare for rebuilding overall financial company management on an AI-based foundation."

[단독] 지난달 동결 대포통장 계좌 4500개 ‘사상 최대’ [사기공화국의 민낯]

보이스피싱·불법사금융·온라인 도박·신종 피싱 등 모든 불법 금융 범죄에 동원되는 ‘범죄 인프라’ 중 하나인 ‘대포통장’ 계좌가 매해 빠르게 늘고 있는데, 특히 지

https://biz.heraldcorp.com/article/10728642

ehkim@heraldcorp.com