Telecoms step up cybersecurity spending after breaches

A sign informing customers of protective security measures following a massive data breach at an SK Telecom store in Seoul, April 29, 2025. Korea Times photo by Nam Dong-gyun

Major telecom companies — SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus — are sharply increasing their cybersecurity investments and strengthening security governance following last year's high-profile breaches, positioning security as a core business priority rather than a compliance obligation.

According to the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA), the three carriers’ combined information security investment rose to about 367.5 billion won ($243.9 million) in 2025, up about 22 percent from 301.2 billion won a year earlier, far outpacing the approximately 4 percent growth in overall IT investment.

On average, the three carriers devoted nearly 7 percent of their overall IT investment to information security last year, compared with 5.8 percent in 2024.

The widening gap reflects a shift in investment priorities as telecom companies respond to increasingly sophisticated cyber threats while seeking to restore consumer confidence after last year's security incidents.

SK Telecom and its fixed-line affiliate SK Broadband together invested 143.4 billion won in information security, the largest amount among the country's telecom operators, representing 6.7 percent of their combined IT investment.

SK Telecom alone also showed significantly expanded cybersecurity efforts following last year's breach. Its information security spending rose to 111.1 billion won in 2025 from 65.2 billion won a year earlier, lifting the share of security investment in total IT spending from 4.2 percent to 7.2 percent.

The company has pledged to invest about 700 billion won in cybersecurity over the next five years while restructuring its security governance. It has established an integrated security center reporting directly to the CEO, strengthened reporting lines for its chief information security officer, and expanded artificial intelligence (AI)-based threat detection and zero-trust security capabilities.

KT CEO Park Yoon-young speaks during a press conference on the company's artificial intelligence transformation business and security governance plans in Seoul, June 13. Yonhap

KT invested 127.6 billion won in information security last year, equivalent to 6.3 percent of its total IT investment, unchanged from the previous year.

While the increase from the previous year was relatively modest, the company has recently stepped up broader security initiatives by launching an external cybersecurity advisory board comprising academic, legal and industry experts in AI, cybersecurity, zero-trust architecture and digital policy last week.

The panel will advise on KT's long-term cybersecurity strategy, including defenses against AI-powered attacks, generative AI misuse, advanced persistent threats and ransomware.

It will also help strengthen zero-trust architecture, authentication, access control and monitoring systems, while providing guidance on AI security, cloud security, regulatory compliance and incident prevention.

The initiative complements KT's earlier privacy advisory committee, establishing separate governance structures for cybersecurity and data protection as the company advances its AI platform strategy.

Meanwhile, LG Uplus posted the highest security investment ratio among the three companies, allocating 96.6 billion won to information security, up from 63.2 billion won in 2023, with the share of security in total IT investment climbing from 6.6 percent to 7.7 percent.

The company has steadily expanded cybersecurity spending since launching a companywide security overhaul following a distributed denial-of-service incident in 2023.