KT reports another suspected data breach case to authorities for investigation
A pedestrian passes by the KT headquarters building in Seoul in this March file photo. Yonhap
KT aid Friday it has reported a new case of suspected data breaches to authorities for investigation, in a case separate from its recent mobile payment violation.
South Korea's No. 2 mobile carrier said the report was submitted to the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) just before midnight the previous day.
The mobile carrier said it had carried out an internal investigation for about four months and identified four cases with evidence of server breaches, along with two other suspected cases.
The report was submitted just hours after KT held a press briefing Thursday, where the company raised the possible leakage of International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) and International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers, as well as phone numbers.
KT nevertheless claimed the universal subscriber identity module (USIM) certification number had not been compromised, although the latest server breach indicates the company cannot completely rule out the possibility.
"The investigation of servers was a separate task that had been carried out for four months and was not related to the mobile payment issue. We became aware of it Thursday night," said Koo Jae-hyung, who heads KT Corp.'s network technology division, during a government press conference Friday.
"We were not aware of it before the briefing on Thursday."