An SK Telecom retail retailer in Seoul / Korea Occasions picture by Kang Ye-jin
Korea’s state-run client company on Sunday ordered SK Telecom to pay 100,000 gained ($67) in compensation to every consumer following its large knowledge breach earlier this 12 months.
The choice by the Korea Shopper Company got here after 58 customers sought dispute mediation with the company in Could following an information breach that affected the entire firm’s 23 million customers.
In April, SK Telecom belatedly disclosed a significant leak of common subscriber id module (USIM) knowledge from its servers, prompting the corporate to supply free USIM replacements to all of its customers and triggering an investigation by regulators.
In August, the Private Data Safety Fee (PIPC) slapped SK Telecom with a file of 134.8 billion gained.
“Contemplating the joint investigation carried out by the federal government and the personal sector in July and the ruling by the PIPC, it was acknowledged that the hacking incident brought on injury to customers,” the company mentioned.
“SK Telecom holds duty for compensating particular person customers for the injury,” it added.
Underneath the choice, the Korea Shopper Company ordered SK Telecom to supply a 50,000 gained discount in month-to-month subscription charges and 50,000 gained in credit usable as money equivalents, bringing complete compensation to 100,000 gained per consumer.
If SK Telecom accepts the decision inside 15 days of receiving the discover, the company will take steps to offer compensation to customers who didn’t take part within the mediation course of.
The estimated payout of about 2.3 trillion gained ($1.5 billion) exceeds SK Telecom’s 2024 web revenue of 1.43 trillion gained and is equal to roughly 13 % of its 2024 gross sales of 17.94 trillion gained.
“We are going to intently evaluate the ruling and make a prudent resolution,” SK Telecom mentioned in a press release following the announcement.
