SK Telecom announced that it is installing antivirus and endpoint threat detection and response (EDR) systems to enhance Linux security following the SIM hacking incident.
During a briefing held at Samhwa Tower in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 23rd, Ryu Jung-hwan, vice president in charge of infrastructure strategy and technology at SK Telecom, said regarding measures for Linux security, "We are installing antivirus, EDR, and so on, and we are listening to opinions on overall security enhancement from industry experts."
Vice President Ryu explained, "Telecom equipment is highly sensitive, which makes it challenging to install antivirus. We are implementing it to the extent possible, and EDR is also included."
In response to a question about whether there are any issues with replacing customers' SIMs without a proper server security system in place, Vice President Ryu said, "We isolate anything that we suspect might be infected, even to a slight extent," adding, "The equipment currently operating on the network is fine, so there is no need for concern."
SK Telecom projected that 50% of pre-registered customers will complete their SIM exchanges by the end of this month. As of the previous day, 36% of the registered applicants had changed their SIMs.
Lim Bong-ho, head of the mobile network operator (MNO) division, said, "We expect to increase the SIM exchange to about 50% of pre-registered customers by the end of this month," and added, "We should be able to finish the overall guidance by next week."
Meanwhile, it has been reported that 406,040 subscribers moved to other telecom companies since the hacking incident became known. The net reduction, considering new subscriptions and other factors, was 362,293.
As of midnight on that day, the cumulative number of SIM exchanges was 3.54 million, and the remaining reservations amounted to 5.39 million.