South Korea’s privacy commission says KT concealed intrusions and failed to report them promptly. The breach exposed over 16,600 subscribers and enabled illegal payments.
Seoul, July 30 – South Korea’s Personal Data Protection Commission fined KT Corp 54 billion won for a leak of customers’ personal data, the commission said on Thursday.
Hackers stole the personal data of more than 16,600 KT mobile service subscribers and their payment information, and used them for illegal payments totaling around 240 million won, the report says.
The leak occurred in 2024 and 2025, the commission said.
The panel also separately found several malicious programs on KT’s servers during the data breach investigation and stated that the company attempted to conceal the intrusion and did not notify authorities as required by law.
KT representatives did not respond to calls requesting comment.
Details of the investigation and consequences
According to the commission, during the investigation, malicious software was found on KT’s servers, and violations of incident notification requirements were confirmed.
This case underscores regulators’ focus on data protection in the telecommunications sector and the importance of rapid reporting of data breaches.