KT Corporation

KT Corporation is a Korean company. A major provider of integrated wired and wireless telecommunications services in South Korea.

Business in Russia

Page of the Moscow representative office of KT Corp. Moscow Office

2021: Conclusion of an agreement with AFK Sistema on the construction of medical centers and laboratories in Russia

On December 14, 2021, AFK Sistema and KT Corporation agreed on cooperation, within the framework of which partners will create diagnostic medical centers in Russia specializing in laboratory diagnostics and comprehensive body examinations (Check Up). Read more here.

History

2024: Downloading viruses to hundreds of thousands of subscribers' PCs so they don't download torrents

The largest South Korean Internet provider KT Corporation secretly installed malicious software on the computers of about 600 thousand of its subscribers in order to block torrent traffic. This became known on June 26, 2024. This fact was revealed during the investigation conducted by the Korean news agency JBTC.

KT, formerly known as Korea Telecom, has been distributing malicious software to users who prefer to download files through torrents for several years. The purpose of these actions was to limit the relevant traffic and reduce the load on the provider's network infrastructure.

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W. Media

The malicious software not only blocked torrent traffic, but could also monitor all online user activity. A special team was created at KT, consisting of three sections: development, malware distribution and operation, as well as real-time monitoring of subscriber data.

The problem was discovered in May 2020, when users of the Korean cloud service Webhard began complaining about unexplained errors in the operation of the Grid program using the BitTorrent protocol. The investigation found that all of the victims were KT customers.

There is a suspicion of a hacker attack on our grid service. This is a very malicious intervention, - said an anonymous representative of Webhard.

South Korean police have launched an investigation into the actions of KT Corporation. More than 10 potential defendants in the case have already been identified, including employees of the provider and partner companies. Investigators believe that KT violated at least two laws of the country: on the protection of the secrecy of communications and on information and communication networks.

In June 2024, searches were carried out at the KT headquarters and data center with the seizure of part of the property.^[1]

2021: Purchase of telecom solutions developer Epsilon Telecommunications

In mid-September 2021, the South Korean company KT announced the acquisition of Epsilon Telecommunications. The transaction value was $145 million. Read more here.

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