Ministry of Science and ICT Confirms Additional SKT Servers Infected with Malware

Previously, Infections Confirmed in Three Servers
Concerns Raised Over Additional Personal Information Leakage

Kang Dohyun, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated on the 8th, "So far, we have conducted three rounds of investigations on 33,000 SK Telecom servers," adding, "There are a few additional infections besides the three servers confirmed to be infected with malware."

Vice Minister Kang appeared at the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee hearing on this day and said, "We are continuing investigations to verify the facts accurately," and added, "We are at the stage of identifying infected servers and mutated malware, so this part must be thoroughly investigated."

The Ministry of Science and ICT conducted the first round of investigations from the 22nd to the 29th, examining five SKT servers that showed signs of attack. The results of the first investigation confirmed infections in three servers. It was also found that four types of information, such as phone numbers and subscriber identification keys (IMSI), which could be used for USIM cloning, as well as 21 types of management information required for processing USIM information, had been leaked. However, since there was no leakage of device unique identification numbers (IMEI), the government explained that "SIM swapping"?the act of cloning a USIM using stolen information and inserting it into another mobile phone for illegal activities?was not possible in this case.

With the discovery of newly infected servers, concerns have arisen that the scope of personal information leakage may have widened. When Noh Jongmyeon, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Korea, asked whether the authorities could be 100% certain that there had been no IMEI leakage, Lee Donggeun, head of the Digital Threat Response Division at the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) and deputy head of the joint public-private investigation team, replied, "That is what has been confirmed up to the first investigation," but added, "We are considering various possibilities."

At the SK Telecom hearing held on the 8th by the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee, Kang Dohyun, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, is responding to lawmakers' questions. Photo by Yonhap News