As hacking aimed at security vulnerabilities using AI increases, concerns are growing over personal data leaks and secondary damage from their misuse. South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission on Monday provided related preventive guidelines.

The commission said individuals should, as a first step, withdraw from websites they do not use where possible. The commission provides services to check identity verification history and support membership withdrawals from websites.

It is also necessary to regularly check for account information leaks or identity theft through public services such as "Talin Nae Jeongbo Chatgi". If a password has been leaked, users should also change accounts on other sites that use the same password.

Privacy violations can be reported to the Personal Information Infringement Reporting Center (118). For voice phishing and smishing, people can contact the Korea National Police Agency's Integrated Response Team for Telecommunications and Financial Fraud (1394). If financial damage has occurred due to phishing, they can contact the Korea National Police Agency (112) or the customer center of the relevant financial company to request a payment suspension.

Companies and institutions should identify servers, network-attached storage devices, network equipment and terminals, installed software including versions, and the type and scale of personal data processed by each system, as well as links with external parties. Websites, systems and accounts that are not used or have been left unattended for a long time should be deleted or disabled. They should identify the status of externally linked application programming interfaces, and discard application programming interfaces that are not used.

PIPC Vice Chair Lee Jeong-ryeol (이정렬) said, "Protecting personal information requires both responsible protective measures by companies and institutions and practical action in individuals' daily lives."