A big monetary penalty was anticipated for SK Telecom after a massive data breach. Now we know how big.
Muhammad Zulhusni reports:
South Korea’s biggest mobile carrier has been hit with a record fine after a massive data breach exposed the personal details of nearly half the country’s people.
The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) said on Thursday it fined SK Telecom 134.8 billion won (about US$97 million) for weak security and for failing to report breaches quickly. The regulator also ordered the company to strengthen its safeguards, criticising it for years of lapses that left customer data exposed. This is the largest penalty the PIPC has handed down since it was formed in 2020.
The case stems from a breach disclosed in April, when SK Telecom revealed that hackers had stolen universal subscriber identity module (USIM) data. The company offered free replacements to affected users, but regulators launched a deeper probe into the data leak.
Read more at Telecoms.