JTBC, a prominent Korean news organization, has uncovered that KT Corporation, one of South Korea’s largest telecom providers, deliberately infected over 600,000 users with malware to deter them from using torrent services.
This discovery has sent ripples through the tech community and raised severe legal and ethical questions.
The issue first surfaced in May 2020 when Webhard, a Korean cloud service provider, began receiving many user complaints about unexplained errors.
Webhard’s Grid Program, which relies on BitTorrent peer-to-peer file sharing, was found to be compromised.
An anonymous representative from Webhard stated, “There is a suspicion of a hacking attack on our grid service. It’s very malicious, interfering with it.” The company soon realized that all affected users were KT customers.
The Malware’s Impact
The malware, which originated from KT’s own data center south of Seoul, significantly impacted users’ systems.
According to MNews, the malware created strange folders, made files invisible, and completely disabled the Webhard program.
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In severe cases, it even rendered the entire PC inoperable. “Only KT users have problems. What the malware does on the user’s PC is to create strange folders or make files invisible. It completely disables the Webhard program itself. In some cases, the PC itself was also disabled because of it, so we reported it,” the representative added.
Legal Ramifications and Ongoing Investigations
Following Webhard’s report, police officials launched an investigation and traced the malware back to KT’s data center.
Authorities have since identified and charged 13 individuals directly connected to the malware attack, including KT employees and subcontractors.
The charges include violations of South Korea’s Protection of Communications Secrets Act and the Information and Communications Network Act.
The investigation is ongoing, and more individuals may be implicated as authorities continue to delve deeper into the case.
This incident has sparked a heated debate about how companies can protect their interests and the ethical implications of such actions.
As the investigation unfolds, the tech community and the public await further developments with bated breath.
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