SK Telecom files lawsuit to revoke record 135 bln-won fine over data breach

SK Telecom Co., South Korea’s largest mobile carrier, has filed a lawsuit to overturn a record 135 billion-won fine (US$91 million) handed down by the Personal Information Protection Commission over a data breach that affected its entire 23 million-user base. The filing was submitted to the Seoul Administrative Court on Monday afternoon, just a day before the deadline to seek revocation of the PIPC decision made in August last year.

The regulator imposed the fine about four months after SK Telecom belatedly disclosed a major leak of universal subscriber identity module data from its servers. In response to the breach, the company offered free USIM replacements to all users and faced an investigation by the regulator. The move comes as SK Telecom continues to contend with fallout from the disclosure and the subsequent scrutiny of its data-handling practices.