South Korea Arrests Seven in First Big AI-Assisted Hacking Case

In brief

• Seoul police arrested seven people over a campaign that used generative AI to hack about 90 organizations and steal 8.2 million records, which police call South Korea’s first large-scale AI-assisted hacking arrests.
• The alleged ringleader, 32, taught himself hacking and added an AI coding agent and an autonomous penetration-testing tool in late August; police say he breached 60 companies in 44 days.
• Emails to 38 victims demanded a combined 360 million won, about $272,000, but the only confirmed payment was 300,000 won, about $210.

Police in Seoul have arrested seven people in a hacking campaign that used generative AI to break into about 90 organizations and steal 8.2 million records.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced the case Monday and called it the first time in South Korea that suspects in a large-scale AI-assisted hacking operation have been apprehended.

The targets included hospitals, universities, private cram schools, golf courses and subsidiaries of large conglomerates, according to police—places that hold the names, contact details and records of ordinary people. One funeral services provider lost 1.22 million records, and one report said data from the academies included information on minors.