"The 42-year-old movie 'Terminator,' which imagined robots attacking human society, has become reality. As AI agents are being used as tools for hacking, they are threatening human work and living environments. In today's era, where companies delegate most of their tasks to AI, we must prepare AI control tools to guard against conflicts between humans and AI."
Hwang In-seo (CEO), CEO of QueryPay, a data security and AI platform company, and Kim Sang-young, CTO (Chief Technology Officer), emphasized the importance of security in response to advancements in AI technology during an interview with Money Today on the 23rd. This means that as AI evolves beyond being a simple work assistant to performing core corporate tasks, the need to manage and control AI activities has grown.
CTO Kim stated, "Thinking humans created a tool called AI to replace their thinking, and now AI is replacing human work. If these are not properly controlled, humans will bear responsibility for problems that arise during the work process," adding, "A systematic control system that grants data access permissions and records actual activities is necessary."
Analysis suggests that as the scope of AI activity expands, a situation has arrived where it is necessary to manage what information AI utilizes and how it behaves. In response to these market changes, QueryPay developed a comprehensive security platform that integrates AI with corporate information systems.
The platform is equipped with various security tools, including corporate AI usage, establishment of internal AI policies, AI evidence (log recording), and detection of abnormal AI behavior. A notable feature is also the implementation of access control for corporate resources such as databases, servers, clouds, and Kubernetes into a single platform.
QueryPay operates two main product lines: 'ACP,' an access control security platform, and 'AIP,' a SaaS (Software as a Service). The AI Gateway used in AIP will soon be released separately. QueryPay's platform has raised the level of security by granting permissions for AI agents to access information and controlling their actions according to those permissions. In Korea, it primarily services ACP, protecting the databases, servers, and cloud resources of approximately 250 companies in big tech, finance, fintech, commerce, and telecommunications. In Japan, it is servicing AIP to more than 50 companies.
CTO Kim said, "AI agents ultimately work by accessing corporate databases, servers, and clouds," adding, "We have created a platform for the series of control tasks that approve and record who in a company has what permissions to access which resources."
Hwang In-seo, CEO of QueryPay, is confident in the differentiation of his company's security products. Based on this confidence, Hwang (CEO) is overseeing overseas business. In particular, he is providing face-to-face consulting for the entire process of applying AI to customers' actual work in Japan.
Hwang (CEO) stated, "By moving away from the previous method of creating separate products for each customer and evolving a single product that can provide customized services by adjusting tools, we were able to quickly reflect technological changes in cloud and AI into our products," adding, "Famous IT solution companies such as Japan's Terrace Sky, Asisto, and Salesforce Japan are customers of QueryPay."
QueryPay currently has over 11 billion won in order contracts. Monthly revenue will surpass the break-even point within this year. Hwang (CEO) said, "As cases of achieving results on-site for customers, such as automating salary verification and vehicle specification writing, have emerged, partners and customers are increasing," adding, "While implementing annual subscription services for enterprise companies, customer churn is rare, so we will achieve a full-year profit next year."
Senior talents who developed search systems and search clouds at Kakao and Kakao Enterprise have joined QueryPay in large numbers, along with Hwang (CEO) and CTO Kim. Their experience handling large-scale data and cloud infrastructure, and understanding the actual movements and control paths of AI, has advanced QueryPay's access control technology to the next level in cloud and AI environments. Those who have developed AI systems for evolution are now stepping up to control AI.
Meanwhile, investors are anticipating QueryPay's domestic IPO (initial public offering). Hwang (CEO) stated, "Some of our shareholders hold foreign nationality, but internally we have the goal of entering the domestic stock market as a homegrown company," adding, "Listed companies on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, including the Japanese subsidiary of Salesforce, a software company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, are proposing cooperation, so we are keeping various financial expansion methods open, such as M&A (mergers and acquisitions)."
Hwang (CEO) holds a master's degree in computer engineering from KAIST and began his career as a software developer at Eugene Data Technology Research Institute in 2008. He worked as a software developer at Kakao in 2014 before founding QueryPay in 2016. CTO Kim holds a bachelor's degree in the Department of Forest Products from Seoul National University and served as a specialized research officer and director of the Technology Research Institute at Eugene Data for eight years starting in 2005. From 2014, he progressed through roles as a leader in search system development and search cloud development at Daum, Kakao, and Kakao Enterprise before joining QueryPay in 2023.
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