Regarding KT's unauthorized small-amount payment hacking incident, the National Assembly Research Service said there are grounds attributable to the company to exempt all former subscribers from cancellation penalties.
On the 4th, Choi Min-hee, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker who chairs the National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, said she asked the National Assembly Research Service to examine whether KT customers could be exempted from cancellation penalties based on the circumstances revealed so far. The research service submitted a reply that KT bears responsibility and that customers can be exempted from the penalties.
On whether there is company fault, such as causing anxiety, even for users whose monetary loss or personal data leak has not been confirmed, the National Assembly Research Service said, "It appears it will be judged in the same framework as the SK Telecom hacking case." KT's poor management of ultra-small base stations (such as femtocells) that appear to have been exploited for crimes, delayed response after police notification, and denial and later acknowledgment of indications of a personal data leak were cited as grounds related to the company's negligence in the breach incident.
Unlike the SKT case, actual monetary damage occurred, making the directness of harm greater, and the research service judged that KT violated its primary obligations as a telecommunications service provider based on the possibility of additional personal data leaks.
However, the research service also offered the view that, given the relatively limited scale of the leak and the fact that compensation measures were provided without claiming the actual damage amounts, there is room to see the degree of violation as mitigated.
Chairperson Choi said, "KT's negligence has already been clearly revealed, and because the cause of the hacking has not yet been identified and users' anxiety has not abated at all, the management must prepare a cancellation penalty waiver and additional compensation plan."