Woori Bank holds mock hacking competition awards ceremony

Jeong Jin-wan pledges support for youth in financial security

Woori Bank President Jeong Jin-wan (fourth from left), grand prize winner Kim Hyun-ju of Catholic University, Financial Security Institute President Park Sang-won, and judges and Woori Bank officials pose for a photo at the sixth WooriCON mock hacking competition awards ceremony, held Wednesday at Woori Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. [Woori Bank]
Woori Bank President Jeong Jin-wan (fourth from left), grand prize winner Kim Hyun-ju of Catholic University, Financial Security Institute President Park Sang-won, and judges and Woori Bank officials pose for a photo at the sixth WooriCON mock hacking competition awards ceremony, held Wednesday at Woori Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. [Woori Bank]

Woori Bank President Jeong Jin-wan stressed Wednesday that no matter how sophisticated hacking techniques become, the power to prevent financial incidents ultimately comes from staying true to the fundamentals.

Jeong made the remarks at the sixth WooriCON mock hacking competition awards ceremony, held Wednesday at Woori Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. "Woori Bank will consistently provide customers with secure financial services grounded in basic security principles, and will continue to support WooriCON as a gateway for young talent to lead the future of financial security," Jeong said.

The ceremony was attended by Jeong, Financial Security Institute President Park Sang-won, external judges and other key officials.

WooriCON is a mock hacking competition that Woori Bank launched in 2021 — the first of its kind in the banking sector. The event aims to nurture young cybersecurity talent and help participants find employment.

This year's competition ran for two weeks from Sept. 7 to Sept. 18, drawing 109 participants across 40 university and graduate school teams.

Participants competed in a bug bounty format, identifying security vulnerabilities and hacking risks in Woori Bank's internet banking platform and its WON Banking mobile app.

Judging was handled by security experts from the Financial Security Institute, white-hat hackers and information security professors. Winners shared a total prize pool of 4.6 million won ($3,470). They also receive preferential treatment in the document screening stage when applying for positions at Woori Bank's technology division or the Financial Security Institute.

"No matter how sophisticated hacking techniques become, the power to prevent financial incidents ultimately comes from staying true to the fundamentals," Jeong said. "Woori Bank will consistently provide customers with secure financial services grounded in basic security principles, and will continue to support WooriCON as a gateway for young talent to lead the future of financial security."

Woori Financial Group is pursuing a future co-growth project worth 90 trillion won at the group level. As of September, the group had disbursed 33.3 trillion won in productive finance.


hyuk@heraldcorp.com