Seoul: Over 200,000 subscribers of SK Telecom Co., South Korea's largest mobile carrier, received new universal subscriber identity module (USIM) chips on Monday. This marks the first day of the company's free replacement service initiated after a recent network hacking incident.
According to Yonhap News Agency, approximately 230,000 users completed their USIM chip replacement, while 2.63 million had made online reservations for the service by 6 p.m. SK Telecom launched a dedicated web page for this service at 10 a.m., alongside the activation of around 2,600 SK Telecom stores nationwide to facilitate the replacement.
The service is available to about 25 million SK Telecom subscribers, which includes nearly 2 million budget phone users. SK Telecom is arranging new USIM cards by verifying customers' ID cards and reservation confirmation texts during the on-site replacements.
Following the system's activation, SK Telecom's official website and the USIM replacement page faced accessibility issues due to heavy traffic. Offline stores also reported long queues of customers waiting for the service. Currently, SK Telecom has about 1 million USIM cards and plans to secure an additional 5 million by the end of next month.
The hacking incident, detected on April 18, involved a massive leak of customers' USIM data. SK Telecom expressed its apologies for the inconvenience caused and committed to resolving the situation promptly.
Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) Chairman Ko Hak-soo addressed the National Assembly, indicating that the investigation could last over a year. The PIPC has been working with SK Telecom and has set up a task force to manage the incident. To mitigate further damage, consumers are advised to change their USIM chips or consider switching their mobile carriers.
Ko Hak-soo highlighted the potential for significant penalties under the revised personal information protection law, which was strengthened two years ago. He added that the PIPC would recommend SK Telecom to implement additional measures to address concerns stemming from the hacking incident.