South Korea Fines Telecoms Firm KT Corp. $37.4 Million for Personal Data Leak: Panel

South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission has fined telecoms company KT Corp. 54 billion won ($37.43 million) for a leak of customer personal information, the commission said on Thursday [July 30].

Hackers stole more than 16,600 KT mobile service customers’ personal data and payment information and used them to make 240 million won worth of illegal payments, the commission said in a report of its investigation.

The leak occurred in 2024 and 2025, it said.

The panel said it separately found multiple malware in KT’s servers as it probed the data breach and that the company tried to cover up the infiltration and failed to notify authorities as required by law.

KT officials did not immediately answer phone calls seeking comment.

($1 = 1,442.8000 won)

(Reporting by Jack Kim; editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Christian Schmollinger)