Seoul police arrested seven people over an alleged generative AI-assisted hacking campaign that targeted about 90 organizations and stole 8.2 million records. Police called the arrests South Korea’s first in a large-scale AI-assisted hacking case. The alleged ringleader was referred to prosecutors in custody; police said they were still investigating the other six people and looking for more victims. So far, 15 organizations have reported damage.
Police said the ringleader breached 60 companies in 44 days, from August 31 to October 13, after adding an AI coding agent and an automated penetration-testing tool. Emails to 38 victims demanded a combined 360 million won, about $272,000, but the only confirmed payment was 300,000 won, about $210.
