South Korea fines KT over prolonged customer data breach
🔒 South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission fined KT Corporation KRW 53.979 billion ($39 million) after an internal network compromise persisted nearly 11 months from October 2024 to September 2025. The breach exposed personal data of 16,647 subscribers and enabled fraudulent micropayments for at least 368 customers. Investigators found a lost femtocell with a valid certificate used to create a rogue base station, enabling interception of IMSI, IMEI, phone numbers, and authentication codes. PIPC also discovered BPFDoor malware on 38 IT servers dating to March 2024 and criticized KT for inadequate controls, evidence deletion, and delayed reporting, ordering stronger security and governance measures.
