Financial Authorities Postpone Second Phase of Network Separation Regulation Relaxation Amid Hacking Incidents

Due to a series of recent hacking incidents in the financial sector, the selection of financial companies for the second phase of network separation regulation relaxation, originally scheduled for October 7, has been temporarily postponed.

According to financial authorities on October 6, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) has decided to delay the schedule for selecting financial companies eligible for emergency relaxation of network separation regulations aimed at utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) for security purposes.

An FSC official stated, "We are not halting the push for relaxation of network separation regulations, but addressing the recent hacking incidents in the banking sector is our priority at this time." The official added, "The timeline for resuming the process is currently undecided."

It is reported that personnel from the authorities have also been involved in addressing the recent hacking incidents and identifying their causes.

Network separation is a security regulation that separates a financial company's internal work network from external internet networks to prevent external intrusions and information leaks. While effective in protecting internal systems, it has limitations in utilizing external high-performance AI for security vulnerability assessments and responding to cyber threats.

In response to the increasing sophistication of AI-based cyber attacks, the FSC has been working on a temporary relaxation of network separation regulations to allow the use of external high-performance AI for security purposes.

Meanwhile, the FSC had previously selected 10 financial companies in June for the first phase to begin security testing using high-performance AI. The second phase was planned to select up to 15 additional financial companies.