SK loses more customer information

Cell phone numbers of 38,000 users of a discontinued traffic information service run by an affiliate of SK Group were leaked online and the company said yesterday that it completely deleted related data on Sunday.

According to sources, a real-time traffic information text message and Web site service Entrac, operated by SK Marketing & Company, an ad and marketing affiliate of SK Group, lost data from about 38,000 customers.

SK Marketing & Company ran Entrac from 2006 until December 2008.

Cell phone numbers of 38,000 Entrac users were discovered through InfoScan, a free software that checks whether a person’s personal information has been leaked on cyberspace after inputting cell phone numbers, names and e-mail addresses.

Sources said that, between January and December of 2008, the mobile phone numbers and 210,000 access records of some 38,000 Entrac users were accessed.

SK Marketing & Company said yesterday it found out about the situation on Sunday and deleted the data.

This is the second time that an SK Group affiliate has had problems with personal information leaks.

In late July, two popular Web sites operated by SK Communications were hacked, causing private information of 35 million users to be leaked.

That cyber attack was the worst online breach in the world’s most wired country.

“Only cell phone numbers of Entrac users were leaked,” an official at SK Marketing & Company said. “Users’ names, addresses and resident registration numbers are safe.” The chances are low that the information will be used for voice phishing since only cell phone numbers were leaked.

By Kim Mi-ju [mijukim@joongang.co.kr]