South Korean financial services and investment banking company Daishin Securities, asset manager Mirae Asset Global Investments, and cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb reported data breaches on Wednesday, prompting the country’s presidential office to convene over the incidents.
According to a report from Yonhap News Agency, Daishin said that the personal information of 38,490 customers had been compromised. The information included names, email addresses, and mobile phone numbers. Daishin detected unauthorized access to its systems last week.
“We take this personal and credit information leak very seriously and sincerely apologize to our customers. We will responsibly implement measures to protect customers and prevent recurrence,” Jin Seung-wook, Daishin Securities Chief Executive Officer, told The Chosun Daily.
Mirae Asset Global Investments said that while data had been leaked from its internal system, no personal or credit information belonging to general customers had been compromised. The company said it had activated its emergency response procedures and blocked access routes following detection of suspicious activity on some of its web systems.
Cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb reportedly detected abnormal access from an unauthorized party to its mobile groupware system on Tuesday. An investigation into the scope of the breach is underway, and Bithumb hasn’t ruled out the possibility that member information was compromised according to a report from The Korea Times.
The three incidents have prompted the presidential office to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the extent of the damage and what measures can be put in place to prevent further damage, according to a report from Korea JoongAng Daily.
Earlier this month, the Financial Services Commission reported that around 100,000 pieces of customer data had been compromised in data breach incidents at 16 companies. The commission added that in an evaluation of 555 companies, 425 said their cybersecurity management measures were “appropriate”, while 130 companies reported that some areas needed to be improved.