One of 48 Security Patches Breached at Lotte Card
"Vulnerable to Conventional Weapons While Focusing on the Latest Ones"
AI to Be Applied to Financial and Legal Operations Starting in 2027
"No Obsession with Being Number One, Focused Investment i
Taeyoung Chung, Vice Chairman and CEO of Hyundai Card, stated that the company may consider increasing its information security budget to prevent hacking incidents. However, he emphasized that simply increasing the budget would not prevent all incidents, highlighting the need for fundamental measures such as organizational improvements.
At a press conference held on the 22nd at the Hyundai Card headquarters' "Cooking Lab" in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, Chung said, "The Lotte Card hacking incident is not someone else's problem. I have urged the relevant department to be more vigilant, and if there is a request to increase the budget, I will not block it." However, he added, "Just because we increase the budget does not mean we can necessarily prevent incidents," stressing the need for further advancement through measures like organizational restructuring. He further explained, "The incident at Lotte Card occurred because one out of 48 security patches was breached."
He said, "If spending an additional 1 billion won or 10 billion won could completely prevent incidents, it would be an easy game. Buying more weapons does not automatically strengthen national defense," drawing an analogy. He continued, "If we focus only on the latest weapons, we may become vulnerable to conventional ones. On the contrary, improving the organization may reveal problems that were previously hidden."
"Not Obsessed with Being Number One, Making Overwhelming Investments in AI"
Chung also expressed that he is not obsessed with being number one in the card industry. Instead, the company’s strategy is to focus on securing artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. He announced plans to fully implement large language models (LLMs) for internal financial and legal work within two years. Chung said, "By 2027, we will operate an AI cloud system capable of handling sensitive tasks such as internal finance and legal affairs."
Hyundai Card has currently built a total of nine cloud architectures, including one public cloud for external use and eight private clouds for internal use. The private clouds are managed as either open or closed systems. The open type allows access to all employees, while the closed type is applied to practical tasks related to finance, accounting, and legal affairs to enhance security. Notably, the closed type is designed to prevent not only AI’s answers but also the questions themselves from being leaked externally.
Chung stated, "In two years, employees will be able to ask AI to 'analyze return on investment (ROI)' or 'find similar clauses among tens of thousands of legal contracts.' AI will not replace financial and legal personnel, but rather play a role in supplementing their work."
Stablecoin "Still in the Exploration Stage"... No Plans for Hyundai Card to Go Public
Regarding the stablecoin strategy, he said, "We are not rushing to file patents or trademarks." He added, "What matters is not the rights on paper, but understanding the blockchain system, accumulating knowledge, and gaining testing experience. The industry’s move toward introducing stablecoins is still in an 'uncertain exploratory' stage." Furthermore, he said, "I believe Hyundai Card is not lacking in knowledge or testing experience related to stablecoins. Trademark applications are not what’s important." However, he expressed willingness to participate if card companies jointly launch a stablecoin product.
He dismissed the possibility of a merger and acquisition (M&A) involving Lotte Card or Hyundai Card going public. When asked about the view that "Lotte Card or card company licenses are undervalued," he responded, "That just reflects the negative perception of card companies from the outside."
Regarding plans for an initial public offering (IPO), he said, "There are various ways to raise capital, such as paid-in capital increases. I do not believe that going public is the only way to demonstrate corporate value. It is more important to clearly present the company’s vision."
Chung was cautious when asked about the upcoming election for the next chairman of the Credit Finance Association. He refrained from commenting on specific candidates, saying, "We have served many association chairmen so far, and we will continue to serve whoever is elected well." On the top priority for the association, he replied carefully, "I am not sure. Even if the next chairman looks into it, it will not be an easy problem to fix."
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