Mobile carriers pledge stronger user protection after hacking incidents
Yonhap News
Kang Yoon-seung
KO
2026-04-09 05:00
SEOUL, April 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's top three mobile carriers on Thursday v...
By Kang Yoon-seung
SEOUL, April 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's top three mobile carriers on Thursday vowed to tighten cybersecurity measures in response to a series of data breaches last year while enhancing their corporate responsibility.
Chief executive officers of SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. made the pledge during a meeting with Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon, discussing ways to strengthen business competitiveness amid a rapidly changing network environment, the science ministry said.
The meeting came after the three companies suffered a series of data breaches last year, affecting millions of local users.
In April, SK Telecom experienced a major leak of universal
In August, KT reported that data belonging to 368 users had been exposed after illegal micro base stations were connected to its network, resulting in 243 million won (US$164,000) in unauthorized micropayments.
LG Uplus also suffered several data breaches last year, including the exposure of call data of 36 customers using the carrier's artificial intelligence (AI) app.
"Taking last year's hacking incidents as a lesson, the three mobile carriers will establish safer and more reliable security systems and maintain readiness against cyber threats to guarantee the public digital safety," the companies said in a joint statement.
The mobile carriers said they will proactively cooperate with the government's policy to guarantee basic data access even after users reach their monthly limits.
The science ministry earlier said it has reached an agreement with the mobile carriers to provide basic data access at a reduced speed of 400 kilobits per second (kbps) to
The three companies further pledged to expand investment in next-generation network infrastructure to help South Korea maintain global leadership in the digital industry.
"The responsibility and role of mobile carriers became clearer after last year's hacking incidents," Bae was quoted as saying. "Beyond pledging to prevent a recurrence, they need to pursue broad reforms and contributions that people can feel.
"I hope the network industry will play a pivotal role in stabilizing people's livelihoods and strengthening South Korea's global leadership in the AI era."
colin@yna.co.kr(END)
SEOUL, April 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's top three mobile carriers on Thursday vowed to tighten cybersecurity measures in response to a series of data breaches last year while enhancing their corporate responsibility.
Chief executive officers of SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. made the pledge during a meeting with Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon, discussing ways to strengthen business competitiveness amid a rapidly changing network environment, the science ministry said.
The meeting came after the three companies suffered a series of data breaches last year, affecting millions of local users.
In April, SK Telecom experienced a major leak of universal
In August, KT reported that data belonging to 368 users had been exposed after illegal micro base stations were connected to its network, resulting in 243 million won (US$164,000) in unauthorized micropayments.
LG Uplus also suffered several data breaches last year, including the exposure of call data of 36 customers using the carrier's artificial intelligence (AI) app.
"Taking last year's hacking incidents as a lesson, the three mobile carriers will establish safer and more reliable security systems and maintain readiness against cyber threats to guarantee the public digital safety," the companies said in a joint statement.
The mobile carriers said they will proactively cooperate with the government's policy to guarantee basic data access even after users reach their monthly limits.
The science ministry earlier said it has reached an agreement with the mobile carriers to provide basic data access at a reduced speed of 400 kilobits per second (kbps) to
The three companies further pledged to expand investment in next-generation network infrastructure to help South Korea maintain global leadership in the digital industry.
"The responsibility and role of mobile carriers became clearer after last year's hacking incidents," Bae was quoted as saying. "Beyond pledging to prevent a recurrence, they need to pursue broad reforms and contributions that people can feel.
"I hope the network industry will play a pivotal role in stabilizing people's livelihoods and strengthening South Korea's global leadership in the AI era."
colin@yna.co.kr(END)