"Card Companies' Hacking Responses Surge 1,554%... Budget Sees Only Modest Increase" [2025 National Audit]

Park Chan-dae’s Office Conducts Comprehensive Survey of Eight Card Companies
"Sharp Rise in Hacking Attempts, Yet Budget Increases Remain Tepid"

Over the past five years, the number of hacking responses by major domestic credit card companies surged by 1,554%, yet the related budget increased by only 22%, according to a recent survey.

Park Chan-dae, a member of the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, announced on the 20th that he had conducted a comprehensive survey of information security budgets and personnel at eight credit card companies (KB Kookmin, BC, Shinhan, Hana, Hyundai, Woori, Samsung, and Lotte) to assess the state of security in the card industry.

According to Assemblyman Park, between 2021 and 2025, the combined budgets for information security, personal data protection, penetration testing, and security monitoring at the eight card companies rose by 22.6%, from 107.3 billion won in 2021 to 131.6 billion won in 2025. The number of dedicated security personnel increased by 43.5%, from 315 in 2021 to 452 in 2025.

By company, Hyundai Card recorded the largest budget increase at 83.4%, while Samsung Card actually reduced its budget by 7.6%. In terms of dedicated personnel, Woori Card saw a 218.1% increase, whereas Hana Card maintained the same number of personnel-16-as five years ago.

Assemblyman Park argued, “Despite the sharp rise in hacking attempts, the overall industry budget expansion has been insufficient, and each company’s response remains inconsistent.” According to data submitted to the National Assembly by the Financial Security Institute, the average daily number of hacking responses over the past five years jumped from 6,909 in 2021 to 114,288 as of the end of August 2025, marking a 1,554% increase.

There are calls for financial institutions to establish minimum investment standards to encourage uniform investment in response to the surge in hacking attempts. Assemblyman Park emphasized, “We confirmed that the increase in security investment by the eight card companies has remained stagnant compared to the soaring number of hacking attempts,” adding, “In line with the government’s information security measures, card companies must build a more robust and independent defense system to cope with the rapidly increasing hacking threats.”