SEOUL, October 01 (AJP) — Shinhan Bank, one of South Korea’s largest commercial banks, pledged to fully compensate customers for losses arising from a data breach that exposed personal and credit information linked to about 25,000 customers’ loan applications.
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said Thursday it had launched an on-site inspection to determine the scope of the leak, the types of information exposed and how the breach occurred.
Shinhan reported that an unauthorized external party had accessed some of its services through abnormal means and obtained customer information.
The exposed data included names, phone numbers and connecting information (CI), an identifier used to verify users across online services. It also included personal and credit information submitted or generated during loan applications, such as annual income and estimated loan limits.
The bank said it activated its emergency response system after discovering the breach, blocked access from external Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and suspended the affected services. It also introduced additional security measures to prevent further damage.
Shinhan Bank CEO Jung Sang-hyuk apologized Thursday over the breach.
“I deeply apologize to our customers and the public for causing concern following the leak of some customers' personal and credit information,” Jung said in a statement.
“We will take full responsibility and fully compensate customers for any losses caused by the leak,” he said.
Jung also said the bank would review its entire personal credit information protection system from the ground up and strengthen its business processes and employee training.
Shares of Shinhan Financial Holding Group fell 1 percent Thursday upon the news of the leak.
AJP Takeaways
- The Financial Supervisory Service launched an on-site inspection of Shinhan Bank after personal and credit information tied to loan applications for about 25,000 customers was leaked.
- Shinhan Bank said the exposed information included customer names, phone numbers, connecting information and data used in loan applications, including annual income and estimated loan limits.
- Shinhan Bank CEO Jung Sang-hyuk said the bank would fully compensate customers for any losses caused by the data leak.
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