Additional Malware Detected in SK Telecom Hack Investigation; Customer Exodus Continues
Kim Jisun
stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr | 2025-05-07 07:56:52
Photo = SK Telecom
[Alpha Biz= Kim Jisun] A joint public-private investigation team probing the recent SK Telecom hacking incident has identified eight additional types of malware within the company’s internal systems. While no new data breaches have been confirmed, authorities caution that further information leaks may be uncovered as the investigation progresses.
According to South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT on May 6, the joint task force is analyzing the time of infiltration, infection routes, and the potential for additional data exfiltration related to the newly discovered malware.
In a preliminary report released late last month, investigators revealed that four types of malware had compromised five servers, resulting in the leak of customer USIM (Universal Subscriber Identity Module) data. The new findings bring the total number of malware variants to twelve.
The investigation team emphasized that the probe is ongoing and declined to disclose specific details about any additional damage.
Meanwhile, customer churn continues to escalate. On May 5, during the holiday period, 13,745 SK Telecom subscribers switched to rival carriers KT and LG Uplus. Since the hacking incident began making headlines on April 28, a total of 214,811 customers have left SK Telecom.
In response, the company recently began automatically enrolling subscribers in its USIM protection service, which now has 24.11 million registered users as of 9 a.m. on May 6. However, lingering consumer anxiety has led to an additional 1 million users requesting USIM replacements, raising total reservations to 7.8 million. Due to inventory shortages, only about 1.04 million USIMs have been successfully replaced to date.
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