The financial regulator on Thursday publicly reprimanded Hyundai Capital CEO Ted Chung for failing to protect customer information against the hacking incident that leaked the personal information of about 1.75 million customers in April.

Hyundai Capital was issued a warning, a softer reprimand.

The reproof wraps up a full-scale probe on the company by the Financial Supervisory Service. The regulator judges that the financial company allegedly failed to upgrade their database system, allowing hackers to steal customer information for about two months.

The FSS can issue five levels of sanctions on financial companies or their heads ― caution, cautionary warning, censure-level warning, suspension of duties, and request for dismissal.

Chung’s censure will not result in his being suspended from his role.

Major banks and credit card companies are requesting their customers to change their online personal identification numbers following the case of Hyundai Capital and Nonghyup, which also suffered a cyber attack in May.

The FSS unveiled a set of measures in June asking financial companies to tighten their customer security systems.

By Cynthia J. Kim (cynthiak@heraldcorp.com)