Insiders at Internet providers have reportedly stolen and sold the private data of over 10 million South Koreans. The personal details are openly sold on the Internet, with a 100-fold fall in their price blamed on increasing availability.
Trade in private information is flourishing in South Korea. Credit card numbers and the personal details of subscribers to high-speed Internet service providers are freely available on the black market. However, the biggest shock to society has been how openly the data is now being sold, with dealers offering their products online. Leading Korean portals carry adverts that offer an "ID and resident registration number database free of charge" along with other business services. The price is perhaps the best gauge of how freely available such information is: in the last year it has become 100 times cheaper to buy personal data.
According to some sources, the personal details of over 10 million Koreans are currently available on the Internet. It appears that every subscriber to domestic high-speed Internet providers and all credit card users face the threat of identity theft.
Police recently arrested two men for selling private information, stating that the pair bought and sold the personal details of no fewer than 7.71 million people. The authorities seized a CD that held not only the names and resident registration numbers but also addresses and both fixed-line and cell phone numbers of subscribers to domestic high-speed internet service providers KT, Hanaro Telecom, Dacom, Thrunet and Onse Telecom.
It was later discovered that some of the information in the latest case was stolen by an agency for a domestic high-speed Internet service provider. The provider allowed its agencies to access the server where subscribers’ personal details were kept. One of the two arrested men was a former head at the agency. After accessing the head office server, he put the information together on a CD, which he sold to sales reps for various Internet and credit card companies.
“In South Korea, where almost every home has a high-speed Internet connection, private data leaks from providers’ databases could lead to the identity theft of the whole nation. In fact, that is basically what has happened, and, obviously, the leaked information cannot be returned. Perhaps a high level of corporate security will become a strong selling-point when competing for new clients," says Denis Zenkin, marketing director at InfoWatch.
Source: english.chosun.com
