Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Lee Eok-won said on the 10th that "for financial companies with sufficient artificial intelligence (AI) and security capabilities, we will swiftly develop and announce a plan for the full lifting of network separation requirements."
Lee made the remarks while attending the Information Protection Day ceremony hosting financial company CEOs, held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Jongno-gu, Seoul, that day.
The FSC plans to ease network separation regulations, which require work systems and other infrastructure to be separated from external communications networks, for financial firms that have secured adequate security capabilities. Since last month, the commission has been implementing emergency relaxation measures for network separation to allow AI security testing.
Citing information leaks and hacking incidents that have repeatedly occurred in the financial sector since the second half of the year, Lee said, "The after-the-fact response of closing networks and restricting access, as in the past, cannot keep pace with evolving AI attacks," adding that "a system of 'defending against AI attacks with AI' must be established."
A ceremony was also held to award FSC Chairman's commendations to institutions, chief executives, and chief information security officers (CISOs) that contributed to the advancement of financial security and information protection. In the organization category, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance and Korea Securities Finance Corporation received commendations for their contributions to enhancing the reliability and stability of the financial industry. In the individual category, Yun Ho-young, CEO of KakaoBank, Jang Eun-young, managing director of Citibank Korea, and Kim Dae-hee, division head at DB Insurance, were honored.
