The police announced on the 30th that they are conducting an investigation in cooperation with law enforcement agencies from five foreign countries regarding the SK Telecom (SKT) hacking incident.
A Seoul Police Agency official said at a regular press briefing on the 30th, "We are cooperating with law enforcement agencies from five countries, including the United States, and have requested data cooperation from 18 foreign corporations as part of our investigation." He added, "We are tracking over 100 IP addresses secured during the analysis process that show evidence of server access."
The Cyber Investigation Team of the Seoul Police Agency is reportedly pursuing the attackers by analyzing the identified malware and log records from this incident to trace back online footprints such as IP addresses.
The police are also investigating a case in which SKT executives were accused of a delayed response to the hacking incident by civic groups. A police official stated, "We have completed the investigation of the complainants in six accusations being investigated by the Namdaemun Police Station and have also conducted interviews with witnesses," adding, "We will conduct interviews with the remaining suspects according to the procedures following the analysis of the investigation."
It was revealed that in April, malware was installed on multiple server systems, including SKT's Home Subscriber Server (HSS), leading to the leakage of a large amount of sensitive personal information. The investigation conducted by the Cyber Investigation Team of the Seoul Police Agency, the National Intelligence Service, and the joint public-private investigation team on SK Telecom found that at least 25 types of malware were installed since June 2022. SKT advised subscribers to replace their SIM cards to protect their personal information, which led to a SIM card crisis.
There has been speculation that North Korea or China may be involved, but the police stated that nothing has been identified at this stage of the investigation.