Hacker Used Claude and DeepSeek to Breach 9 South Korean Banks
Investigators say attacks on at least nine South Korean banks exposed financial data of tens of thousands of people, with a suspect allegedly leaning on AI tools.
Security investigators have uncovered attacks on at least nine banks in South Korea that exposed financial data belonging to tens of thousands of people. Evidence suggests the attacker used AI tools to get past technical hurdles that once demanded real hacking expertise.
According to findings from CrowdStrike, the trail points to a 26-year-old man living in southern China. He allegedly used tools including Claude and DeepSeek to help carry out the intrusions, then turned to AI again to handle the stolen data and to write a résumé implying advanced cybersecurity skills. The accusations and conclusions rest on the security investigation itself.
How AI changes the attacker's toolkit
Models that can analyze source code are able to spot vulnerabilities, explain how systems are built and suggest fixes for technical problems. Those abilities serve defenders and attackers alike. The findings indicate that the speed of attacks has risen as these tools spread, and that less experienced attackers can now rely on available models rather than building every tool themselves.
The worry is that offensive capabilities are reaching people with no specialist security training.
Warnings for critical infrastructure
Specialists warned that operators of water and energy networks need to audit their systems and patch weaknesses before someone exploits them, especially as open models grow more capable. The same technology also helps researchers find and fix software bugs.
The findings stress a caveat: there is no evidence that AI was used in every attack now circulating, including the Binance breach. Not every recent cybercrime should therefore be treated as a direct result of these tools.
Apps worth a look
SUMO: the number puzzleTap the right tiles, add them up, hit the target. Easy to learn, hard to master. Free, for all ages.
Dialo: learn languages by speakingTalk to an AI conversation partner; every sentence comes back corrected and explained in your language. 9 languages, A1 to C2.
ediviewer: read EDI files like documentsOpen EDIFACT and X12 messages, see every segment explained, convert to JSON/XML, export PDF and Excel. Runs locally, no upload.
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