The government encourages increased investment in information security by domestic corporations and institutions in light of the 'SK Telecom hacking incident.'
The Ministry of Science and ICT held a meeting on the 22nd with the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) and the Korea Information Security Industry Association (KISIA) to discuss measures for expanding security investment by domestic corporations and institutions. The purpose is to create an environment that can proactively defend against large-scale hacking attacks like that of SK Telecom.
A representative from the Ministry of Science and ICT noted, 'The need for expanding security investment by domestic corporations and institutions is increasing due to the SK Telecom breach incident,' adding, 'It is time to explore investment expansion measures to the level of advanced countries overseas.'
According to KISA, SK Telecom's security investment decreased from 62.7 billion won in 2022 to 60 billion won last year, a reduction of about 4%. This amount is less than half of KT's security investment last year (121.8 billion won) and lower than that of the third-largest operator, LG Uplus (63.2 billion won). If combined with its subsidiary, SK Broadband, which handles wired services, the total is around 86.7 billion won.
Analysis has emerged that SK Telecom's neglect of security investment led to large-scale theft of subscriber identification module (USIM) information. According to the public-private joint investigation team currently investigating the SK Telecom hacking incident, the amount of leaked data confirmed so far is 9.82 gigabytes (GB), amounting to 26,957,749 cases based on the subscriber identification key (IMSI).
This meeting, held by the Ministry of Science and ICT, was attended by chief information security officers (CISOs) from various demand enterprises, including major domestic security corporations and those in telecommunications, finance, and media, to discuss ways to expand security investment in Korea. Security sector experts also participated, providing opinions on cooperative growth strategies and improvements to policies and regulations.
Ryu Je-myeong, director of the network policy department at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, 'If domestic institutions and corporations significantly expand security investments due to the recent SK Telecom breach incident, resulting in a virtuous cycle of robust growth in the security industry, it will greatly aid in enhancing the overall security level and strengthening industrial competitiveness in Korea.' He added, 'I will listen closely to the opinions of experts from all sectors to do my best for improvement in policies and regulations.'