SK Telecom announced on the 29th that the number of subscribers for its USIM protection service, which can prevent secondary damage from the theft of subscriber USIM information, has surpassed 10 million, including users of budget phone lines.
According to SK Telecom, as of 8 p.m. on the same day, the company had 9.6 million subscribers, and there were 400,000 budget phone users on the SK Telecom network who had subscribed to the USIM protection service as of 6 p.m. The tally for the protection service for budget phone subscribers is conducted at different times than that of SK Telecom subscribers.
The Ministry of Science and ICT stated that subscribing to the USIM protection service can prevent 'SIM swapping,' which involves copying the USIM from leaked subscriber information and inserting it into another phone for illegal monetary transactions. It also noted that this service could effectively defend against potential SIM cloning attacks by hackers using four types of leaked USIM information discovered during a hacking incident on the 18th.
Even if a hacker attempts phishing scams against users from whom information has been stolen, such as instructing them to 'turn off and on their mobile phone to prevent identity theft,' a user subscribed to the USIM protection service can maintain control over their phone.
SK Telecom added that it has significantly increased the processing capacity of the USIM protection service, improving the reservation and subscription completion notifications. The daily processing capacity for USIM protection service reservations has been expanded by 50%.