As hacking incidents have occurred in succession at major financial institutions, including banks, savings banks, and capital companies, there are growing concerns that securities firms are not safe either. A private equity fund manager was hacked one year ago, and three years ago, a case was detected in which customer information from a securities firm was leaked and used for investment fraud. Since these incidents also resulted in damage from external security vulnerabilities, calls are growing for the preparation of countermeasures.
According to financial authorities on the 6th, the authorities believe that hacking damage could expand to securities firms and are closely monitoring the situation. Securities firms, like all other sectors of the financial industry, are currently inspecting their external interfaces and authentication and access control systems. No cases of hacking damage at securities firms have yet emerged.
A Financial Supervisory Service official said, "If banks have been breached, it means that hackers can breach anywhere if they set their minds to it," adding, "We are closely monitoring the situation to prevent further spread of damage."
It is assessed that if hacking damage expands to securities firms, it could lead to financial losses, resulting in greater impact. In fact, several private equity fund managers suffered hacking damage last year. It is known that cloud servers of an outsourced computer management company for some private equity fund managers were hacked, leading to the leakage of internal materials. Since most private equity fund managers sell products through distributors such as securities firms and do not hold investor personal information, it is reported that the damage was not significant. However, there is a possibility that some personal information related to agency contracts, under which financial products are managed on behalf of investors, may have been leaked. The case involving private equity fund managers was also an incident targeting external vulnerabilities, such as outsourced computer management companies, similar to hacking incidents at financial institutions.
In July last year, an incident occurred in which an employee of LS Securities received a fake email and placed stock orders for foreign investors. It is known that the foreign investor in question claims to have suffered losses of around 8 billion won. Although it was not an incident caused by direct hacking, it led to financial damage because internal controls did not function properly.
Three years ago, a case was detected in which customer information leaked from the investment contest platform of Yuanta Securities was used for unlisted stock investment fraud. The fraudsters managed this platform and illegally obtained customer information, stealing approximately 830,000 pieces of personal data. Based on the securities firm's customer information, the group impersonated an investment advisory company and swindled approximately 600 million won from 36 people.
The Financial Supervisory Service is expected to announce countermeasures for the entire financial sector, including securities firms, such as establishing a security system that "defends AI attacks with AI." It also appears likely to call for strengthening internal control systems at securities firms, as seen in the LS Securities case. There are also points raised that vulnerable areas of securities firms should be inspected together. A financial investment industry official said, "Just like small-scale private equity fund managers, there are clear security vulnerabilities in the financial investment industry, so this is an opportunity to conduct inspections and prepare countermeasures."
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