Government to Levy Heavier Penalties for Personal Data Leaks

The government has unveiled a set of measures designed to prevent leaks of personal information,... following a series of security breaches by financial institutions that affected tens of millions of people here in Korea. Our Laah Hyun-kyung has the details. From the latter half of this year,... financial institutions will only be able to ask for customers' resident registration numbers... at the initial, application stage. After that, people will not be asked to provide their registration numbers... but instead be asked to verify their identity through other, safer means. In light of a series of high-level personal information security breaches,... the government made the announcement official on Monday. Financial institutions will also not be allowed to keep collected information for more than five years... after the final transaction. "Apart from the information that's absolutely necessary, all other data that the financial institution either has or has provided to a third party will be destroyed. The police and the prosecution will jointly and indefinitely crack down on illegal breaches." The government has also tightened the penalty system. If a company is found to have used illegally obtained personal information to make profits,... it will be fined three percent of the total sales made through using the data. Also, up to a five billion won, or roughly 4-point-7 million U.S. dollar fine will be levied on firms that leak customer information. Officials reaffirmed... that customers should be entitled to set up financial services with just their basic information, such as their registration number and date of birth. People will also be given the option to retract on an agreement to provide personal data ... and also block telemarketing calls from financial institutions. Laah Hyun-kyung, Arirang News.