[DigitalToday reporter Sangyeop Oh (오상엽)] South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service has begun an on-site inspection of Mirae Asset Securities after customer and employee information was leaked. With hacking incidents occurring in a similar period at group affiliates such as Mirae Asset Life Insurance and Mirae Asset Global Investments, it is also looking into whether the attacks are linked.

According to financial authorities on Nov. 9, the FSS sent an on-site inspection team to Mirae Asset Securities on Monday morning and is checking the scale of the data leak and the circumstances of the incident.

With cyber attacks confirmed in four Mirae Asset Group affiliates in succession, the FSS is also checking whether there are links in the methods and routes of the attacks, not only the individual incidents.

On Oct. 26, a customer personal data leak occurred at Mirae Asset Life Insurance. External intrusion attempts were identified at Mirae Asset Global Investments on Oct. 28 and at Energy Infrastructure Asset Management on Nov. 2.

External attacks targeting Mirae Asset Securities' mobile web phone authentication login service and its groupware then occurred a day apart on Nov. 4 and 5.

In the process, the account numbers of about 3,800 customers and personal information of 35,255 Mirae Asset Securities employees were confirmed to have been leaked.

Mirae Asset Securities previously confirmed abnormal access from an external IP address, blocked the related access route, and reported the incident to the Financial Services Commission, the FSS and the Personal Information Protection Commission, among others.

The FSS is conducting on-site inspections not only at Mirae Asset Securities but also at Mirae Asset Life Insurance and Mirae Asset Global Investments.

With multiple affiliates in the group targeted in succession over a short period, future inspections are expected to focus on whether the incidents share commonalities, including the intrusion routes, attack methods used and internal security control systems.