Report Filed After Discovery of Unknown Base Station ID
It has been revealed that hackers used a virtual base station in connection with the unauthorized micro-payment fraud targeting KT subscribers in the Seoul metropolitan area.
According to the IT industry on September 9, KT reported the security breach to the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) the previous day, stating that an unknown base station ID was found in the call records of subscribers in the affected area. KT added that, at the time of the report, this unknown base station ID did not exist.
This means that KT identified that the victims had connected to a base station that was not under its management, suggesting the possibility that hackers temporarily set up a virtual base station to divert traffic. It is suspected that the hackers used the information obtained through the virtual base station to repeatedly make micro-payments, such as purchasing mobile gift certificates and recharging transportation cards, during the early morning hours when the victims were asleep. This type of crime has not previously been reported in South Korea.
KT, however, maintains that there is no evidence of personal information being hacked.
The Ministry of Science and ICT has formed a joint public-private investigation team with KISA and private experts to investigate the cause, and the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency's cyber investigation unit is also conducting an investigation. Since the end of last month, the total amount of damages in areas including Gwangmyeong and Bucheon in Gyeonggi Province and Geumcheon-gu in Seoul is estimated to be approximately 50 million won as of now.
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