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South Korea fines KT Corp $37.4 million for personal data leak, panel says

By Thomson Reuters Jul 29, 2026 | 9:32 PM

SEOUL, July 30 (Reuters) – 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.

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)