South Korea Probes AI-Assisted Hacks at Three Major Banks
Shinhan, KB Kookmin and Hana Bank data thefts are under investigation by South Korea's National Office of Investigation, according to Tom's Hardware.
South Korean authorities are investigating suspected AI-agent-assisted cyberattacks that leaked data from Shinhan Bank, KB Kookmin Bank and Hana Bank, according to Tom's Hardware. The National Office of Investigation is examining all three cases.
At Shinhan Bank, the personal credit information of at least 25,000 customers was leaked last week. At Kookmin Bank, 99 customers and 20 current or former employees were affected. At Hana Bank, 89 customers had their information stolen.
President Lee Jae Myung said there were signs the hackers used AI models, and he instructed his cabinet to confirm the situation and minimize the damage.
Earlier warnings about AI-orchestrated attacks
In November 2025, Anthropic reported the first instance of an AI-orchestrated cyberattack, which it said was allegedly carried out by a Chinese state-sponsored group. A few months after that, a cybersecurity firm said Taiwan was targeted by the first-ever end-to-end autonomous cyberattacks by China-linked hackers.
Separately, security researchers breached OpenAI using Claude and gained access to its internal codebase. The Australian government complained that it took OpenAI 84 days to inform it of a hacking incident involving Australia's national health portal.
Quick answers
Which banks are under investigation in South Korea?
Shinhan Bank, KB Kookmin Bank and Hana Bank are being examined by South Korea's National Office of Investigation.
How many customers were affected?
At least 25,000 Shinhan Bank customers had personal credit information leaked. At Kookmin Bank, 99 customers and 20 current or former employees were affected, and 89 Hana Bank customers had information stolen.
Did the hackers use AI?
President Lee Jae Myung said there were signs the hackers used AI models, and he instructed his cabinet to confirm the situation and minimize the damage.