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In April , South Korea ’s telephone company giant SK Telecom ( SKT ) was hit by a cyberattack that led to the thieving of personal data on some 23 million customers , equivalent to almost one-half of the nation ’s 52 million resident physician .
At a National Assembly hearing in Seoul on Thursday , SKT chief executive Young - peach Ryu said about 250,000 users have switched to a different telecommunication provider following the data point falling out . He said he expects this act to give 2.5 million , more than tenfold the current amount , if the ship’s company forego cancellation fees .
The troupe could lose up to $ 5 billion ( around ₩ 7 trillion ) over the next three years if it decide not to commit cancellation fees for drug user who want to cancel their declaration early , Ryu said at the hearing .
“ SK Telecom considers this incident the most severe security falling out in the company ’s history and is putting forth our uttermost effort to downplay any scathe to our customers , ” a interpreter at SKT told TechCrunch in an emailed statement . “ The number of client affected and the entity responsible for the hacking is under investigation , ” the spokesperson added .
A joint investigation involving both public and secret entities is presently underway to identify the specific cause of the incident .
The Personal Information Protection Committee ( PIPC)of South Koreaannouncedon Thursdaythat 25 different types of personal information , including peregrine telephone set numbers and singular identifiers ( IMSI identification number ) , as well as USIM assay-mark key and other USIM data , had been exfiltrated from its central database , get it on as its home indorser server . The compromised data can put client at greater peril ofSIM swop attacksand administration surveillance .
Afterits prescribed announcement of the incident on April 22 , SKT has been offer up SIM card protection and spare SIM card replacements to prevent further damage to its client .
“ To further safeguard our customers , we are presently developing a system that can protect users ’ information through the SIM aegis service while allow for them to use roaming services seamlessly outside of Korea by May 14 , ” the voice said .
To date , SKT has not received any reports of subaltern damage and no verified instances of client selective information being distributed or misused on the dark web or other platform , the society tell TechCrunch .
A timeline of SKT’s data breach
April 18, 2025
SKT detected abnormal activitieson April 18 at 11:20 p.m.local meter . SKT find strange logs and signs of files having been erase on equipment that the troupe practice for monitoring and care billing selective information for its client , let in data usage and call length .
April 19, 2025
April 20, 2025
SKT reported the cyberattack incident toKorea ’s cybersecurity federal agency .
April 22, 2025
SKTconfirmed on its websitethat it notice suspicious activity , indicating a “ potential ” information breach involving some entropy related to users ’ USIMs data .
April 28, 2025
SKT began replacing wandering SIM bill of fare of 23 million users , but the company hasfaced shortages in find sufficient USIM cardsto fulfill its hope to provide detached SIM card replacements .
April 30, 2025
South Korean policebegan investigatingSKT ’s suspected cyberattack on April 18 .
May 1, 2025
agree to local medium theme , many South Korean companies , admit SKT , utilize Ivanti VPN equipment , and that the recent datum breach may be connect to China - backed hackers .
Pera local media report , SKT tell it meet a cybersecurity observance fromKISAinstructing the company to wrick off and replace the Ivanti VPN .
TeamT5 , a cybersecurity company free-base in Taiwan , alerted the public to the planetary threats posedby agovernment - backed grouplinked to China , which allegedly took vantage of vulnerabilities in Ivanti ’s Connect Secure VPN systems to hit access to multiple formation globally .
Some 20 industry have been affected , including automotive , chemical , fiscal institutions , law firms , spiritualist , research institutes , and telecommunications , across 12 countries , include Australia , South Korea , Taiwan , and the United States .
May 6, 2025
May 7, 2025
Tae - won Chey , the chairman of SK Group , which operates SKT , publicly apologized for the first timefor the data breach , some three weeks after the breach occurred .
As of May 7 , all eligible drug user have been signed up for the SIM protection service , except those living abroad using roaming services and temporarily suspended , the interpreter told TechCrunch , adding that its fake detection scheme has already been set up for all customers to preclude unauthorised login attempts using cloned SIM posting .
May 8, 2028
SKT is presently assess how to handle the cancellation fees for users affected by the information severance incident . About 250,000 users have flip-flop to another telecom provider following the breach , concord to the company ’s chief executive at a National Assembly hearing .
South Korean authorities , meanwhile , announcedthat 25 case of personal information were leaked from the fellowship ’s databases during the cyberattack .
