Government: "Evidence of LG Uplus Server Disposal... Request for Police Investigation"

Joint Public-Private Investigation Team Announces Final Findings on Security Breach
Charges of Obstructing Official Duties by Fraudulent Means... Evidence of Intentional Actions

The government announced on December 29 that it has requested the National Police Agency to investigate LG Uplus on charges of obstructing the execution of official duties by fraudulent means.

LG Uplus Building, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

LG Uplus is suspected of having disposed of a related server after being notified by the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) in July about indications of an information leak.

The joint public-private investigation team from the Ministry of Science and ICT, which investigated the security breach at LG Uplus, announced at the Seoul Government Complex on this day, "We have determined LG Uplus's actions to be inappropriate measures."

According to the investigation team, KISA received anonymous leaked information on July 18 and informed LG Uplus the following day. The tip-off claimed that server information from LG Uplus's Account Privilege Management System (APPM) and data on approximately 40,000 accounts had been leaked. In response, LG Uplus conducted its own inspection and notified on August 13 that "no traces of a security breach were found."

However, the latest investigation revealed that LG Uplus physically disposed of one management server on July 31. It was also confirmed that, the day before the notification, the operating system of the APPM server-suspected of being hacked-was upgraded. Initially, LG Uplus did not recognize the information leak as a security breach, but after repeated criticism during the National Assembly audit, the company eventually reported the incident to the authorities. The investigation team was formed and began operations on October 24, the day after the report was received.

The government maintains that it is necessary to determine whether LG Uplus intentionally disposed of the server. The investigation team stated, "Due to the server reinstallation and disposal carried out by LG Uplus, it has become impossible to investigate traces of the security breach," adding, "This will be clarified through a police investigation."