Samsung reportedly instructed executives at its affiliates using SK Telecom to quickly change their USIMs.
According to industry sources on the 25th, Samsung recently notified executives from major affiliates, including Samsung Electronics, to "replace all USIMs for SK Telecom users."
In the case of Samsung Electronics, an email was sent to executives the previous day stating, "Apply for SK Telecom's USIM protection service or change your USIM," and "Since overseas roaming is not available when applying for the USIM protection service, please disable the service during overseas visits for business trips, and when changing the USIM, a new mobile employee ID must be issued."
As a result, it is reported that most executives have already changed their USIMs. The previous day, checks were also conducted to see if the USIMs were being replaced by each affiliate.
This is believed to be because SK Telecom judged that the "USIM protection service" that users were recommended to join does not alleviate concerns about information leaks.
Earlier, SK Telecom confirmed on the 22nd that around 11:40 p.m. on the 19th, some information related to user USIMs was leaked due to malicious code by a hacker. The leaked information reportedly includes unique identification numbers that identify the USIMs for each subscriber.
As concerns arose that hackers could create cloned phones using the leaked USIM information, SK Telecom also advised users to sign up for the USIM protection service available for free on T World.
Ryu Young-sang, president of SK Telecom, held a briefing at the SK Telecom headquarters in Euljiro on the same day and said, "I sincerely apologize for causing great inconvenience and concern to our customers and society who trusted and used SK Telecom" and "We will implement an additional measure to replace USIM cards for all customers using SK Telecom for free, if they wish."