SK Telecom reported being the victim of a hacking attack after the legal deadline for reporting, drawing controversy as the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA), which received the report, is known to have suspiciously altered the incident's occurrence time.
According to data submitted by KISA to Representative Choi Su-jin (People Power Party) of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communications Committee on the 27th, SK Telecom reported the hacking damage at 4:46 p.m. on the 20th, while the detection time of the incident was recorded as about an hour earlier at 3:30 p.m.
However, it is reported that SK Telecom detected data movement within its internal systems and found malware at 11:20 p.m. on the 18th, and shared the hacking fact internally. Thus, although SK Telecom recognized the hacking on the night of the 18th, KISA later revised this to the afternoon of the 20th, more than 40 hours later.
KISA explained, "In the reporting process, the company's security officer corrected the date of the report to the incident detection time, noting that there was a miscommunication," but SK Telecom reportedly countered, saying, "We have never changed the detection time."
Representative Choi Su-jin raised the question, "Isn't KISA trying to cover up the fact that SK Telecom violated its obligation to report within 24 hours?" She particularly pointed out that although SK Telecom experienced a serious incident involving the theft of USIM information, KISA's initial response was excessively delayed.
KISA reportedly requested preservation of materials and submission of documents at 2:06 p.m. on the 21st, 21 hours after SK Telecom's report was received, and it is known that dispatch of experts occurred six hours later at 8 p.m. Critics also pointed out that this dispatch was to SK Telecom's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, rather than the Bundang Center where the hacking occurred, resulting in inadequate on-site response.
The Ministry of Science and ICT and KISA have formed a joint public-private investigation team to investigate this SK Telecom hacking incident.