InterviewFines won't fix problem: Korea needs new playbook as AI changes hacking paradigm

Fines and stricter regulations are no panacea for a growing wave of suspected artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted cyberattacks targeting Korea's financial sector, a cybersecurity expert said Thursday, calling for a government task force to overhaul the country’s cybersecurity defenses.

"Humans simply cannot keep up with AI agents' hacking threats. The entire paradigm of cybersecurity has changed, requiring both the government and the private sector to rethink how they defend against cyberattacks," Lim Jong-in, chair of the AI committee at Soongsil University, said in a phone interview with The Korea Times.

Lim, a former presidential special adviser on cybersecurity, called for the launch of a presidential office-led task force to coordinate responses to AI-driven threats, warning that such attacks will become more sophisticated.

His warning comes as suspected AI-assisted cyberattacks ripple through Korea's financial sector, spreading from commercial banks to brokerages and cryptocurrency exchanges.

Brokerage firm Daishin Securities, cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb and asset manager Mirae Asset Global Investments were the latest to report hacking incidents on Wednesday, adding to a string of similar cases involving 16 financial firms earlier this month.

Virtual asset exchange Prabang on Thursday reported losses of 100 million won ($75,000) in a hacking incident, marking the first reported case of actual asset losses amid the recent hacking spree.

"This may only be the beginning," Lim warned. "The threat extends well beyond the financial sector. If major companies in strategic industries such as semiconductors fall victim to cyberattacks, the fallout could spread across the broader economy."

The expert argued that imposing fines on companies after a breach occurs would do little to address the underlying problem.

While tougher penalties may pressure companies to strengthen their security, companies cannot be expected to fend off increasingly sophisticated AI-driven attacks on their own.

"Companies that suffer hacking attacks are victims, too. Simply increasing fines will not solve the problem," Lim said, noting that companies vary widely in their cybersecurity capabilities and budgets.

He urged the government to swiftly develop and roll out a homegrown open security platform, proposing a task force led by the presidential office to develop a Korean version of a cognitive zero-trust architecture (CZTA).

The task force would bring together agencies including the National Intelligence Service, the Ministry of Science and ICT, and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources.

The CZTA would use AI to continuously assess user behavior and emerging threats, flag suspicious activity and adjust access privileges in real time, following the principle of "never trust, always verify."

Financial authorities have detected large-scale scanning attempts targeting financial systems from IP address ranges associated with North Korea for the first time. Lim cautioned, however, against jumping to conclusions about who was behind the activity, noting that attackers can use proxy IP addresses to conceal their origins.

"Investigating who is behind the attacks is necessary, but for now, we need to focus more on preventing them," he said.

Regarding the ongoing police investigation into the hacking incidents, the security expert said identifying the perpetrators is becoming increasingly difficult because AI agents can evade conventional investigative techniques.

"AI agents leave almost no traces. They know the investigative methods we have used so far, making it nearly impossible to track them down using conventional techniques," Lim said.