‘SKT hacking’ imposes the largest fine ever... “This will be the core basis for claiming damages”

As SK Telecom (hereinafter referred to as SKT), which caused a large-scale USIM hacking incident, was imposed the largest ever fine of over 130 billion won, attention is also focused on the damages lawsuit surrounding SKT.

Previously, on the 28th of last month, the Personal Information Protection Committee imposed a fine of KRW 134.791 billion and a fine of KRW 9.6 million on SK Telecom for violating personal information protection laws, including violation of safety measure obligations and violation of leak notification.

According to the results of an investigation by the Personal Information Committee on the 3rd, it was confirmed that 25 types of information, including mobile phone numbers, subscriber identification numbers (IMSI), and SIM authentication keys (Ki), of 23.24 million users of SK Telecom's LTE and 5G services were leaked.

The hacker first infiltrated SK Telecom's internal network in August 2021 and installed malicious programs on several servers. It was confirmed that SKT did not conduct a separate inspection even after confirming that the hacker accessed the Hexim authentication server (HSS) in 2022.

In addition, it was revealed that SKT operated the Internet, management network, and internal network all connected to the same network, and allowed external access to SKT's internal management network server without restrictions.

In addition, the Personal Information Commission also pointed out the delay in reporting personal information leaks. Even though SKT was aware of the personal information leak on April 19, it did not notify the committee within 72 hours. Afterwards, the committee decided to notify subscribers of the leak on May 2, but notification of the confirmation of the leak was not made until the 28th of the same month.

With this announcement from the Personal Information Commission, attention is also focused on various lawsuits surrounding SKT. After the information leak became public knowledge in late April, several law firms, including Daeryun Law Firm, filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of SKT subscribers.

In this situation, some analysts say that the results of the Intelligence Committee's investigation will serve as an advantageous basis for the victims in the ongoing damages lawsuit.

Daeryun Law Firm, which is leading the class action lawsuit against SKT, said, “As a result of the Personal Information Committee’s investigation, SKT’s overall poor security management was officially confirmed,” and added, “The decision to impose the largest fine in history is a measure that clarifies the responsibility of the business operator.” He emphasized, “This will be a key basis for supporting victims’ claims for damages in the ongoing class action lawsuit, and the court’s judgment on the rights of individual victims must now follow quickly.”

Reporter Kwon Byeong-seok (bsk730@fnnews.com)

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Largest fine ever imposed for ‘SKT hacking’... “It will be a key basis for claiming damages” (Shortcut)