A survey found that 7 out of 10 corporations in Korea experienced artificial intelligence (AI)-based cyber threats.
According to the 'Cybersecurity Status Survey for the Asia-Pacific Region' commissioned by global security corporation Fortinet and conducted by IDC, approximately 70% of organizations in Korea experienced AI-based cyber threats in the past year. Among them, 62% reported that the threats doubled compared to the previous year, and 30% reported a threefold increase.
Typical AI-based threats include deepfake impersonation, polymorphic malware, AI automation-based zero-day exploration and weaponization, credential stuffing, and brute force attacks, as well as data contamination.
However, only 13% of organizations responded that they are 'very confident' in defending against such cyberattacks, while 40% noted that their detection capabilities cannot keep pace with the spread of AI threats or that tracking them is difficult.
The most reported threats in Korea were phishing (70%), software supply chain (68%), ransomware (62%), denial of service (58%), and cloud vulnerabilities (52%).
The threats that are increasing the fastest and are most destructive include cloud vulnerabilities and configuration errors, Internet of Things (IoT) and operational technology (OT) attacks, unpatched systems and zero-days, insider threats, and phishing.
These threats are evaluated as more dangerous as they bypass traditional defenses and exploit internal vulnerabilities and visibility gaps. In fact, 64% of respondents experienced operational shutdowns, 60% faced regulatory violations, 54% reported data breaches and privacy infringements, and 50% experienced damage to customer trust. Additionally, 68% suffered financial losses, with 34% indicating that their losses exceeded $500,000 (approximately 670 million won).
Although cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated, the security organizations of corporations in Korea are reportedly severely understaffed. Fortinet noted that 'only an average of 7% of all employees are IT personnel, and among these, only 13% are dedicated to cybersecurity,' indicating that this means there is less than one dedicated security personnel for every 100 employees.
Organizations with an independent chief information security officer (CISO) also accounted for only 15%. Sixty-three percent of security organizations in Korean corporations still combine IT tasks with security duties. Only 6% had specialized teams dedicated to threat hunting or security operations.
Investment in security also appears to be insufficient. Korean organizations allocated an average of 15% of their IT budgets to security, which accounts for about 1.4% of their revenue.