Security News > 2011 > April > Hyundai Capital admits to unprecedented information leak

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/472385.html By Jung Hyuk-june The Hankyoreh April 11, 2011 A recently announced hacking incident at Hyundai Capital marked an unprecedented systematic accessing of customer financial information by hackers, resulting in major aftereffects. The breach in the computer network has not only sunk confidence levels to rock bottom for financial companies, for whom security is essential, but also spawned concerns about secondary effects due to leaked passwords and other information. Hyundai Capital announced Friday that the personal information accessed through the hack consisted of name, email, and cell phone information for 420 thousand people, approximately 23 percent of all customers, and that it bore no direct connection with financial transactions. However, Vice President Hwang Yoo-no said Sunday that there was “a possibility that some secret information was hacked, including customer passwords and credit ratings,” indicating that it appeared likely that passwords were leaked for around 13 thousand customers. In the past, there have been leaks of financial information amounting to a few hundred people through efforts by criminal organizations, but no cases such as this one of information being hacked for more than 10 thousand people at one time. In short, the company’s security system did not function at all. Observers are predicting no major damages in the immediate future, as the passwords accessed were for “minus loan” cards. But the possibility does exist for secondary effects since many individuals use the same password at various locations when conducting transactions with financial companies. The revelation of systematic criminal efforts by hackers has the potential to develop into a problem for the financial world as a whole rather than Hyundai Capital alone, as it is impossible to guarantee that the security systems of other financial companies such as banks and credit card companies are safe either. For this reason, many observers are saying that a full reexamination of the security systems for South Korean financial companies has become unavoidable. [...]

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