Financial Companies Allowed Permanent Remote Work... Financial Supervisory Service to Permit Remote Access

Scheduled to be implemented next month

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyo-jin] The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) announced on the 17th that it will allow remote access to computer networks for financial companies to enable permanent telecommuting, considering the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and the spread of non-face-to-face culture.

Accordingly, the FSS plans to revise the enforcement rules of the Electronic Financial Supervisory Regulations so that financial companies can quickly switch to telecommuting when necessary.

This revision will permit permanent remote access for financial company employees and allow financial companies to autonomously choose the method of remote access according to their internal circumstances.

Outsourced call center operations will also be allowed permanent remote access. However, system development, operation, and security tasks at data centers, as well as remote system maintenance tasks, are excluded.

Remote access can be either a direct connection to the internal work network or an indirect connection via virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) or similar methods.

The FSS will collect stakeholder opinions starting from the 18th of this month and plans to implement the revised regulations within next month.

Due to network separation regulations under the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, remote access for telecommuting was practically impossible for financial companies.

Network separation is a system that requires financial companies to separate communication lines into work-use (internal network) and internet-use (external network) to block external cyberattacks or information leaks.

Since telecommuting became inevitable for financial company employees due to COVID-19, the FSS temporarily allowed remote access for essential personnel since February.

The FSS explained, "Because telecommuting was hastily implemented without sufficient preparation, there are concerns about inadequate prior risk assessments and security measures. Considering the prolonged COVID-19 situation and the continuation of non-face-to-face culture, institutional improvements are necessary to expand and normalize telecommuting in financial companies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.