SK Telecom, which was hit with the largest-ever fine by the Personal Information Protection Commission due to a massive personal data breach, has filed an administrative lawsuit to contest the penalty.
According to the telecommunications industry on January 19, SK Telecom filed a lawsuit with the Seoul Administrative Court this afternoon, seeking to overturn the fine imposed by the Personal Information Protection Commission. This action was taken just one day before the deadline for filing such lawsuits under the Administrative Litigation Act, which is January 20.
Previously, the Personal Information Protection Commission announced that, as a result of its investigation into the hacking incident at SK Telecom in August of last year, a total of 25 types of personal information-including mobile phone numbers, subscriber identification numbers (IMSI), and USIM authentication keys-of 23,244,649 users had been leaked externally.
The commission determined that security management had been insufficient during this process and imposed a fine of 134.791 billion won, the largest since the commission's establishment. This amount far exceeds the 100 billion won fine imposed on Google and Meta in 2022.
During the lawsuit, SK Telecom is expected to actively argue that it invested a total of 1.2 trillion won in user compensation and strengthening its information protection system after the hacking incident, and that there have been no actual cases of financial damage resulting from the leak.
Additionally, the company is expected to argue that it is unfair to directly compare this case with those of Google and Meta, where personal information was used deliberately or for commercial purposes.
An SK Telecom representative stated, "We filed the lawsuit to seek an objective and thorough judgment from the court regarding the fine imposed by the Personal Information Protection Commission."
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