Seoul: The country's financial regulator said Thursday that moves to ease rules on so-called network separation in order to help financial companies better respond to rising security threats in the artificial intelligence (AI) age are going smoothly.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) had earlier announced plans to review the possibility of allowing AI use for security purposes by easing network separation rules for financial firms. These firms are typically required to separate their internal network systems from external ones to prevent cyber threats like hacking.

However, the emergence of advanced AI models, such as Mythos, as significant security threats has highlighted the need for financial companies to leverage AI technologies for enhanced security purposes. The regulator reported that 75 financial firms applied for a second round of tests, an increase from the 49 firms in the first round.

A total of 15 firms will be selected for network separation after their proposed measures are reviewed. These companies are tasked with developing strategies to replace the current network separation system to better detect and address network security vulnerabilities.

The FSC plans to reveal details of a third round of tests after assessing the outcomes of the previous testing rounds.