Lawmaker warns stolen data traded on portals, raising voice phishing fears
FSS to pursue joint response with financial sector on anomaly detection
Financial Supervisory Service Governor Lee Chan-jin said Monday he would strengthen a joint response framework across the financial sector to prevent secondary damage from personal data leaked in recent hacking incidents. The FSS is also preparing a shared platform to distribute leaked financial information and detect anomalies early.
Lee made the remarks at the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee national audit in Yeouido, Seoul, after Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Son Myung-su raised concerns that personal data stolen in financial sector hacks was being traded online and could fuel secondary crimes such as voice phishing and smishing.
Son presented materials his office had obtained directly, saying that databases containing information on rejected loan applicants, share-related records and financial company customer data were being traded with ease through ordinary portal searches. He said databases that included detailed information such as loan application amounts and workplaces were changing hands for anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand won per entry, with more recent data commanding higher prices.
Son said there were signs that data leaked in recent financial sector hacks was also being traded. "If hacked information can be traded this easily, there is a high risk it will be exploited for voice phishing, fraud and smishing," he said, calling on the FSS to take active steps to block such activity.
In response, Lee said the FSS was supporting on-site investigations by the Personal Information Protection Commission while putting in place a response framework to prevent secondary damage from financial data leaks.
"We are preparing a shared platform connected to the FIRST monitoring system," Lee said. "We are already sharing details of the personal data leak with the financial sector and are preparing for situations in which anomalies emerge."
The FSS launched FIRST, an integrated monitoring system designed to identify cyber threats in the financial sector early and rapidly disseminate information, in February. Between February and September this year, it distributed 213 alerts to the financial sector covering software vulnerabilities, threat information related to security breaches and other advisories.
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