South Korean police catch seven suspects accused of using AI to breach more than 90 organizations and steal 8.2 million records

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said on October 26 that it had caught seven suspects accused of breaking into more than 90 organizations since September 2025. Targets included hospitals, universities, private academies, golf courses and conglomerate affiliates. Police say the group stole 8.2 million records of personal data and internal documents. According to Yonhap, the group used AI tools to hack 60 of the targets. Police called it the first Korean case in which suspects in a large-scale AI-assisted hacking operation were caught.

Per Hankook Ilbo, the 32-year-old alleged ringleader had no IT degree and learned hacking from blogs and YouTube. He had previously done penetration testing at a security firm. He first ran automated vulnerability scanners, then in late August turned to large language models and an autonomous penetration-testing system. BleepingComputer, citing Yonhap, said that tool was ARTEX, which was also used in recent attacks on South Korean banks. The group threatened 38 organizations with leaks and demanded a combined 360 million won (about $272,000). Police say only one company paid, handing over 300,000 won.

The investigation began in June after a victim’s complaint. Police caught five helpers who pressured staff by phone and text, then a 24-year-old who recruited them on Telegram. The ringleader was arrested on October 15 and referred to prosecutors on October 23. The other six are being investigated without detention. Police said an in-house AI tool helped analyze the evidence and that all stolen personal data was recovered.