28 IP addresses behind recent hacking attacks against Korean financial institutions: Watchdog

Korea's financial watchdog has pinpointed 28 internet protocol (IP) addresses in the United States, Japan and 10 other countries used in a series of recent hacking attacks against Korean financial institutions, industry sources said Tuesday.

Several financial companies, including Hana Bank, KB Kookmin Bank and Shinhan Bank, suffered back-to-back customer information leaks in hacking attacks last week, raising concerns that more firms might have suffered data breaches.

According to sources, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has shortlisted IP addresses in 12 countries as of 6:00 p.m. on Monday, which are presumed to have been used for AI agent-backed hacking.

But it has not been able to pinpoint the locations of some of the IP addresses, they said.

Local financial firms have been in a hurry to check their own security systems to fend off any additional hacking attempts.

Over the weekend, President Lee Jae Myung called for a thorough investigation into the attacks.

On Thursday, Shinhan Bank said personal information of around 25,000 customers, including their names, phone numbers and annual income, had been leaked. Sources said the bank was attacked by hackers who utilized advanced AI tools.

Personal information of 89 customers was found to have been leaked from Hana Bank, while Woori Bank and NH Nonghyup Bank were also targeted in similar hacking attempts, though no personal information was leaked as the banks blocked unauthorized access to their systems.

Yonhap