Korea Slaps Hefty Fine on SK Telecom for Years of Negligence

South Korea’s largest mobile operator was hit with a fine and stern criticism from the country’s privacy regulator after a cyberattack disclosed in April compromised the data of about half the nation’s population.

The Personal Information Protection Commission on Thursday fined SK Telecom Co. 134.8 billion won ($97 million) for failing to protect customer data and not reporting breaches in a timely manner. It also ordered the company to improve oversight and criticized it for a prolonged lapse in securing user data appropriately, with allegations dating back to 2022.