Korean financial firms spent 69.6% of security budgets; seven cut funding this year

Twenty Korean financial firms ranked highest for computer-system disruptions spent 69.6% of their information-security budgets last year, according to regulatory data analyzed by People Power Party lawmaker Park Seong-hun (박성훈). Yonhap reported that the firms budgeted 438 billion won but spent 305.03 billion won. Seven reduced their budgets this year. Woori Bank had the lowest execution rate among the 20 firms, at 53.8%, while KB Kookmin Bank spent 58.1% and Suhyup Bank 60.7%. Maeil Business and Chosun Ilbo reported that 11 firms spent less than 80% of their allocated budgets. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]

Woori cut this year's information-security budget by 21.7%, from 78.659 billion won to 61.566 billion won. Citibank Korea reduced its allocation by 18.0%, while Shinhan Bank cut its budget by 10.4%. The other reductions were at Hanwha Life Insurance, Korea Development Bank, K Bank and Standard Chartered Bank Korea, according to the reports. Park said inadequate security investment was a matter of trust in the financial system. He called for a full review of security investment and vulnerability management and for responsibility to be established at financial firms and supervisory authorities where deficient management is found. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]

Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that major banks were considering or planning increased security budgets for next year after recent AI hacking attacks. It said KB Kookmin planned an increase of more than 16% to over 100 billion won and a revision of its group-level information-security management system. Woori was considering raising its security-system budget by more than 20% and specialist staffing by more than 10%. Shinhan planned to set its related budget at an industry-leading level, according to the newspaper. The spending reports criticize investment at institutions responsible for customers' assets and sensitive personal information. [ 1 , 2 , 6 ]