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SK Telecom says allegedly leaked data on sale by hacking group is 'fake'

Published: 16 Sep. 2025, 11:51 Updated: 16 Sep. 2025, 14:32

A person walks by an SK Telecom store in Seoul on Aug. 27. [YONHAP]

SK Telecom, which reported a massive data breach earlier this year, said Tuesday that a batch of client data that a hacking group claims to be selling has never been leaked, suggesting the attempted sale is very likely a scam.

"After analyzing sample data, website screenshots and file transfer protocol screens posted on the dark web, we concluded that all of the information is fake, and the website does not exist within our company's system," an SK Telecom official said.

"The 100 GB worth of data as claimed by the hackers was never leaked," the official added.

The remarks come after a global hacking group, Scattered Lapsus$, posted on its Telegram channel that it would sell SK Telecom's client data for $10,000, adding that 42 South Koreans have already made contact.

The group claimed the data includes customers' IDs, names, phone numbers, emails, addresses and birth dates.

The group also threatened SK Telecom, saying it must engage in negotiations or all of the 27 million users' data would be released.

South Korean authorities, meanwhile, are currently in the process of verifying the facts.

The company reported in April that private data of its entire user base may have been leaked in a cyberattack on its network servers.

Yonhap