Seoul: SK Telecom Co., South Korea's largest wireless carrier, announced a reduction in its 2025 sales target to 17 trillion won (US$12.5 billion) from a previously projected 17.8 trillion won. This adjustment reflects the financial impact of customer compensation plans following a significant data breach that occurred earlier this year.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the company has also revised its operating profit outlook to indicate an on-year decline, deviating from an earlier growth forecast, as stated in a regulatory filing. The changes take into account planned customer compensation packages valued at 500 billion won, necessitated by the breach in April which compromised the data of all 25 million users.
"The target figures may change depending on future business performance and management conditions," the company stated. On the same day, the South Korean government imposed a fine of approximately 30 million won on SK Telecom for delayed reporting of the breach and mandated the waiver of subscription cancellation fees for affected users.
A comprehensive inspection of over 42,000 servers by a joint government-private investigation team identified 28 servers infected with 33 types of malicious code. The investigation further revealed that SK Telecom had detected malware infections on its servers as early as February 2022 but did not report them to authorities as required by law.
The government has indicated the possibility of further investigation into the company over alleged non-compliance with a data preservation order. In response, SK Telecom acknowledged the government's findings and has announced a comprehensive compensation package along with a cybersecurity investment plan totaling more than 1 trillion won.
"SK Telecom acknowledges the findings of the joint public-private investigation and expresses its deep regret regarding the cybersecurity incident," the company said in a statement. "We sincerely apologize to our customers and to society for the inconvenience and concern this incident has caused, and we are committed to taking all necessary steps to ensure this does not happen again."
As part of its 500 billion-won Customer Appreciation Package, SK Telecom will provide all 25 million users with a 50 percent discount on their August mobile bill and an additional 50 gigabytes (GB) of data each month from August through the end of the year. The package also includes a waiver of subscription cancellation fees for customers who subscribed before April 18 and either canceled their service after the breach or plan to do so by July 14.
Additionally, the company plans to introduce the Information Protection Innovation Plan, with an investment of 700 billion won over the next five years to establish a world-class information protection system.