The ministry said Tuesday it had begun an in-depth review after receiving materials from both carriers during on-site inspections. Officials said they would disclose the findings publicly if evidence of breaches is confirmed.
The inquiry follows a tip delivered to the office of Rep. Choi Min-hee of the ruling Democratic Party by an anonymous white-hat hacker. The informant claimed that internal data from the two companies’ servers had surfaced externally, suggesting potential leaks.
Security researchers reported that LG Uplus’s internal source code for a privileged account management system, along with information from nearly 9,000 servers, had been exposed. At KT, investigators were told of certificate leaks that could have left its systems vulnerable.
The ministry’s move comes just weeks after SK Telecom was fined a record sum for failing to safeguard the personal information of more than 23 million subscribers. Regulators said the company had neglected basic cybersecurity practices and oversight.
Both KT and LG Uplus rejected the allegations of cyberattacks.
KT acknowledged that external web service certificates and private keys had been exposed through unknown channels, but insisted no direct evidence of a breach was found on its networks.
LG Uplus said its own internal checks of access controls and firewall logs revealed no suspicious activity.
Earlier this year, the ministry inspected servers at major telecom firms using malware detection tools, and at the time reported no signs of intrusion across the sector.
reporter
Kim Dong-young
davekim0807@ajupress.com
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