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SK Telecom-data leak
SK Telecom files lawsuit to revoke record 135 bln-won fine over data breach
SEOUL, Jan. 19 (Yonhap) -- SK Telecom Co., South Korea's largest mobile carrier, has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn a record 135 billion-won (US$91 million) fine handed down by the state data protection regulator over a massive data leak last year that affected its entire 23 million user base, industry sources said Monday.
SK Telecom filed the suit with the Seoul Administrative Court on Monday afternoon, just a day ahead of the deadline given to the company to seek a revocation of the decision by the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) made in August last year, according to the sources.
The PIPC had imposed the fine on SK Telecom about four months after the wireless carrier belatedly disclosed a major leak of universal subscriber identity module (USIM) data from its servers. The disclosure prompted the company to offer free USIM replacements to all of its users and an investigation by the regulator.
It marked the highest-ever penalty imposed by the PIPC since its launch in 2020, surpassing a combined 100 billion-won fine against Google and Meta Platforms Inc. in 2022.
SK Telecom is reportedly expected to stress that it has spent 1.2 trillion won in the wake of the data breach to compensate users and reform its data protection system, while noting that no financial damage to users has been confirmed as a result of the data leak.
It is also expected to question whether the penalty was fair compared with the previous sanctions imposed against the two U.S. tech companies.
"We seek a thorough assessment by the court on the PIPC's penalty," the company said.
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