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KB Kookmin Bank leaks customers’ info
Stolen data includes credit standing of ministers, lawmakers, actors, conglomerate CEOs
KB Kookmin Bank, the nation’s second-largest lender, was found to have leaked customers’ personal data en masse, following similar incidents at three credit card companies earlier this month.
The Financial Supervisory Service said in its news briefing on Sunday that regulatory inspectors have uncovered more hacking cases at KB Kookmin Bank and several other commercial banks as well as credit card issuers.
Further, the list of stolen data involved private information of the nation’s top two regulatory officials -- FSS governor Choi Soo-hyun and Financial Services Commission chairman Shin Je-yoon.
The list also included some ministers, lawmakers, chief executives in the conglomerate sector, actors, actresses and senior executives at the four major financial groups, said FSS officials.
The supervisory officials alleged that KB Kookmin Bank lost its customers’ data as many of its customers were also holders of the KB Kookmin Card, offered by the bank’s affiliate.
“The sister firms share customer information,” an official said. “NongHyup Bank is also estimated to have suffered the chain effect in the wake of the leakage at its credit card subsidiary, NongHyup Card.”
In addition, three other major banks -- Woori, Hana and Shinhan -- could also be affected by the leakage as they offered credit card settlement accounts to a large portion of KB Kookmin Card, NongHyup Card and Lotte Card holders.
Officials estimated that the number of victims of the leakage at the three card firms came to about 15 million, which is equivalent to 70 percent of the nation’s total cardholders.
When the cases of overlap (a consumer holding several different cards and bank accounts) were not taken into consideration, the number of cases of personal information theft surpassed 100 million, they said.
The detailed personal data included customers’ credit score, ceiling for monthly credit card use, marital status and whether they own automobiles or not.
The FSS unveiled its policy to dispatch a group of inspectors to the overall financial sector in a bid to crack down on allegedly negligent internal control systems.
The state regulatory agency told reporters that punitive measures against the three firms and their chief executives would be inevitable.
On Sunday, an emergency meeting was convened at the head office of KB Financial Group in Yeouido, Seoul’s financial district. Participants included group chairman Lim Young-rok, bank unit CEO Lee Kun-ho and credit card unit CEO Shim Jae-oh.
KB spokespeople said the management discussed ways to minimize customers’ damage, adding that the group plans to carry out thorough compensation for victims.
Over the past few years, the financial industry has come under severe criticism due to a series of hacking incidents. Among the firms that lost personal information were Hyundai Capital, Samsung Card, Hana SK Card and NongHyup Financial Group.
By Kim Yon-se
(kys@heraldcorp.com)
