LGU+ CEO Hwang Hyun-sik Officially Apologizes... 100 Billion KRW Investment in Security and Quality

Announcement of 'Cyber Safety Innovation Plan' for Personal Information Leakage and DDoS Attacks

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] "Through profound self-reflection, we will become a company strongest in security and quality, earning deeper trust from our customers."

Hwang Hyun-sik, CEO of LG Uplus, which has experienced successive personal information leaks and DDoS attacks, held a press conference on the 16th at the Seoul Yongsan headquarters to officially apologize and announced a 'Cyber Safety Innovation Plan.' He revealed plans to invest 100 billion KRW in security and quality.

At the conference, CEO Hwang issued an apology statement, saying, "We sincerely apologize to customers who experienced inconvenience due to information leaks and internet service errors," and added, "This incident is a serious matter, and we will remind ourselves that the starting point of all business is the customer, re-examining everything from the basics from the customer's perspective."

The Cyber Safety Innovation Plan announced by CEO Hwang to prevent recurrence of such incidents includes ▲expansion of information protection organization, personnel, and investment ▲pre-inspection of vulnerabilities and simulated hacking with external security experts ▲application of advanced security technologies and research and investment in future security technologies ▲training of cyber security professionals ▲publication of a cyber security innovation activity report. This plan was prepared to restore customer trust following the personal information leaks and successive DDoS attacks.

LG Uplus plans to strengthen the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) roles as organizations directly under the CEO and to enhance capabilities by recruiting security experts in various fields. Additionally, LG Uplus will increase its annual information security investment to 100 billion KRW, three times the current level, in the short term to strengthen investment in security and quality.

LG Uplus will actively incorporate opinions from external security experts to enhance security stability. It operates an Information Protection Committee composed of external experts from security consulting firms, specialized institutions, and academia to inspect security technologies and management systems. Alongside this, it conducts world-class white-hat hacking competitions and penetration defense training to identify security vulnerabilities.

The company will actively adopt advanced security technologies and strive for research and investment in future security technologies. It plans to apply AI-based security threat analysis and response systems to its infrastructure and improve overall security levels with the latest technologies based on the 'Zero Trust Architecture,' which assumes attackers are already inside the network. Furthermore, LG Uplus aims to lead the future security technology field by actively pursuing equity investments and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in companies with expertise in post-quantum cryptography (PQC) technology development and security specialization.

Along with company-wide cyber security enhancement activities, LG Uplus will also focus on nurturing cyber security professionals. It will establish agreements with domestic universities (graduate schools) and research institutes related to security to foster and recruit specialized personnel linked to security-related departments and courses.

LG Uplus plans to publish an annual 'Cyber Safety Innovation Report' detailing these cyber security innovation activities. The report will transparently and thoroughly disclose major activities responding to cyber threats, new technologies, organizational and personnel strengthening, and investment status.

Meanwhile, to alleviate anxiety caused by personal information leaks, LG Uplus plans to offer free USIM replacements to all customers, not limited to those affected, and is preparing to provide the 'U+ Spam Call Alert' service free of charge.

Additionally, LG Uplus will form a victim support council with academia, the legal community, NGOs, and others to prepare a 'Comprehensive Victim Support Plan' considering the types of customers. As part of the support plan, a 'Victim Reporting Center' will be operated to minimize customer damages. The company also plans to implement cause analysis and improvement measures through dedicated teams for each area.

CEO Hwang explained the purpose of announcing the 'Cyber Safety Innovation Plan,' stating, "Network and information security are the foundation of the telecommunications business and lead to customer trust. With this in mind, through profound self-reflection, we will become a company strongest in security and quality, earning deeper trust from our customers."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.