[Editorial] Hole in cybersecurity
The nation was jolted by interim probe findings that personal information and universal subscriber identity module or USIM data of practically all subscribers of SK Telecom may have been leaked by hackers.
The cyberattack dated back about three years and turned out to be much more extensive than revealed in the initial briefing, according to the second briefing Monday by a joint investigation team of the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Internet & Security Agency. SK Telecom discovered the breach about a month ago, on April 18.
Leaked USIM data amounted to 9.82 gigabytes. which equates to roughly 26.9 million units of international mobile subscriber identity or IMSI numbers. This means that the USIM data of practically all SK Telecom subscribers has been leaked. Currently, it has 25 million subscribers, including 2 million budget phone users.
A total of 23 SK Telecom servers were found to be compromised by malware, up from the five disclosed in the previous briefing held on April 29.
The number of malware variants found to have infected the servers increased from four to 25.
Among the affected servers, two had been used as temporary storage for personal data, such as names, birthdates, phone numbers and email addresses, as well as data on international mobile equipment identity or IMEI, a serial number assigned to every mobile phone. The possibility of financial fraud and other forms of secondary damage from copy phones has gone up.
Investigators found that hackers planted malware on June 15, 2022. It is shocking that not only the telecom carrier but also the government and private cybersecurity firms had remained in the dark about the malware's infiltration for about three years.
There is another problem. How much damage the cyberattack will cause down the road is anyone's guess. SK Telecom reportedly keeps log data for the last four or five months. So, no log data is available for the period from June 15, 2022, when malware was first planted, to Dec. 2, 2024. Fortunately, no evidence was found showing any data leakage between Dec. 3, last year and April 24 of this year, but investigators could not confirm whether any leaks occurred during the period for which log data is not available.
It is worth noting that 24 of the 25 malware variants detected this time were found to be BPFDoor, a backdoor reportedly used by China-based hackers to attack Middle Eastern and Asian telecom companies in recent years. Experts warn that this malware could be used for a cyberattack on the communication infrastructure of a country.
Given that data on all SK Telecom subscribers may have been leaked for as long as three years, the breach is not likely to emerge as a simple hacking case. It is uncertain whether the incident was an organized cyberattack to cripple the communication system of a country rather than an attempt to steal money.
Considering the cyber intrusion was not detected for so long, anybody can guess a similar thing may be happening at other communication networks or major institutions.
Communication infrastructure is one of the cruxes of state administration. Cyberattacks could paralyze it secretly, plunging a nation into chaos. The SK Telecom breach reconfirms how vulnerable South Korea has become to such vital attacks.
SK Telecom bears the primary responsibility for protecting its system from hacks, but the government needs to check the nation's cybersecurity this time.
Also, the National Assembly should do its part to help telecom carriers fend off cyber infiltrations from abroad. One of the laws that it needs to revise is its espionage law, which only punishes spying activities done for North Korea.
Recently, two Chinese nationals were caught photographing fighter jets near air bases in South Korea but released after telling police that photographing was their hobby. Police say there was no evidence that they did so for North Korea. China or the US would likely respond quite differently.
For a nation to keep its sovereignty, security must be tight, cyber or not.
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