SK Group has established a special committee for information security innovation with the participation of external experts as a follow-up measure to the hacking incident involving SK Telecom subscribers. SK Group announced on the 14th that the committee has launched as the ninth committee under the Supex Council, the highest decision-making body.
The chairperson of the special committee for information security innovation will be Choi Chang-won, the chairperson of the Supex Council, while the vice chairperson responsible for practical work will be Yoon Poong-young, president of SK Holdings AX. Committee members will include the governance chairperson, SK Holdings, SK Innovation, SK hynix, SK Telecom, and other strategic committee member companies, as well as SK Networks, SK Broadband, and SK Square.
To enhance execution capabilities, the committee will operate an information security innovation team centered on cybersecurity executives from the Supex Council and SK Holdings. It plans to connect with the chief information security officers (CISOs) and legal departments of major member companies to implement detailed tasks.
To secure the committee's security expertise and operational objectivity, SK Group has formally appointed external security experts from academia and industry as official members. The external advisory chairperson will be Kwon Heon-young, a professor at Korea University and former chairperson of the Digital Government Innovation Committee. Other participants include Choi Kyung-jin, a professor at Gachon University and an authority in personal data protection; Lee Byung-young, a professor at Seoul National University and a systems security expert; and Kim Yong-dae, an ICT chair professor at KAIST who has served as the head of the Cybersecurity Research Center at KAIST. Other advisors include Park Se-jun, the representative of Tiore, who has a history of winning international hacking competitions, and Park Chan-am, the representative of Steelion, who is active as an advisory member for cybersecurity in law enforcement.
The committee will first carry out a 'penetration test' (simulated hacking) as a task. This will be conducted by wielding actual hacking techniques to check and improve system vulnerabilities across all group affiliates, performed by a specialized security company that has won awards in domestic and international hacking competitions.
Additionally, SK Telecom plans to realign its information protection system to meet global standards and complete external validation. It will also establish measures to enhance customer information protection across all affiliates and provide comprehensive consulting in five core areas that constitute the security system: governance, identify, protect, detect, and respond.
An SK Group official noted, 'With the launch of the special committee for information security innovation, we will elevate the security level across all SK Group affiliates and strengthen systematic information security activities to instill trust among stakeholders,' and said, 'We will maximize execution capability by holding monthly regular meetings and technical working meetings.'