MIRAE ASSET Life Insurance (085620), which has confirmed a leak of customer personal data, saw the share of its budget devoted to information security fall by 2.4 percentage points over two years. With hacking incidents mounting across the financial sector, calls are growing for a review of how much insurers spend on security.
Information security accounted for 7.5% of the insurer's information technology budget last year, down from 9.7% in 2024 and 9.9% in 2023, according to financial industry sources on the 27th. That trailed the 9.8% average of three major life insurers — Samsung Life Insurance (032830) at 9.7%, Hanwha Life Insurance (088350) at 11.7% and Kyobo Life Insurance at 7.9%.
MIRAE ASSET Life said it detected signs of hacking and a leak of personal information in its customer application system on the 25th and has since suspended its website and mobile services. The intrusion route and the scale of the damage remain under investigation.
How much insurers spend on security is difficult to assess from outside the industry. MIRAE ASSET Life disclosed only the budget share, without releasing the actual amount spent or the size of its dedicated security staff. Banks and brokerages voluntarily report security spending and staffing to the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA), but insurers do not take part.
The insurance industry has not been free of hacking. In May last year, 2,673 records including employee-related information were leaked from KB Life Insurance, and in July a ransomware attack paralyzed the computer network at SGI Seoul Guarantee Insurance. AXA General Insurance was also hit by a hacking incident in August. In April this year, the personal information of about 900 people was found to have been leaked from two general agencies. "Insurers need to disclose their spending and dedicated staffing and continuously review their security management systems," an insurance industry official said.