(image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Jul. 31 (Korea Bizwire) — Banks and other financial institutions that increasingly rely on chatbots to interact with customers are vulnerable to breaches of personal data protection, the financial watchdog said Tuesday.
A chatbot is a computer program or artificial intelligence that is used in various business sectors, enabling customers to communicate with firms via messaging applications.
A total of 26 financial institutions, including six banks, are using chatbots to handle various requests from customers, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said in a survey of 352 financial firms.
By 2019, 21 other firms said they plan to introduce chatbot services, according to the survey.
However, some chatbot services by financial institutions have failed to encrypt clients’ personal information, making them vulnerable to leaks of personal data or break-ins, the FSS said.
Some financial firms have no specific guidelines on personal information collected by chatbots, the corporate regulator said.
The FSS said it would step up monitoring of chatbot services by financial institutions to ensure air-tight personal data protection.
(Yonhap)
