An assessment of SK Telecom’s customer response after last year’s hacking incident is recovering to levels seen before the incident, a study showed. The company’s sincerity rating recovered 90 percent of its drop after the incident.

SKT said on Nov. 12 the findings were presented at the '2026 CS Wise Insight' seminar hosted by Korea Management Association Consulting (KMAC) at FKI Tower in Yeouido, Seoul, on Nov. 11.

Kim Seung-beom (김승범), a professor in the Department of Business Administration at Hongik University, released results of an analysis of SKT’s crisis response and the process of restoring customer trust after the cyber incident. The results were based on an analysis of a survey of 400 customers who continued using SKT after the incident and 200 customers who left, as well as changes in the number of lines.

The survey showed the highest recovery rate among customer evaluations that had fallen after the incident was for 'the company’s sincerity', at 90 percent. The recovery rate measures how much of the gap between ratings before the incident and immediately after it had been recovered by the survey point. It was followed by a customer-first attitude at 81 percent, reputation among people around them at 80 percent, company capability at 73 percent and trust in the company itself at 64 percent.

Kim said, "While evaluations of customer protection and response measures SKT pursued after the incident recovered first, trust that customers can believe again and entrust services is recovering relatively slowly." He added, "To regain customer trust after a crisis, sustained implementation and improvement efforts need to support sincere responses as a starting point."

◆Free USIM replacement rated positively by 76%... all 11 crisis measures backed by a majority

More than half of customers rated all 11 crisis response measures implemented by SKT positively. Positive response rates for each measure were tallied at 53 to 76 percent.

The highest-rated measure was free USIM replacement and resetting. Some 76 percent of customers who continued using SKT rated it as a good response. It was followed by penalty-fee waivers and refunds at 72 percent and expanded USIM protection services at 71 percent. Free USIM replacement also ranked first at 30 percent in response to a question asking which measure helped most with restoring trust.

Other measures rated positively included daily briefings held for about 2 months at 68 percent, a 50 percent discount on telecom fees at 67 percent, a reorganisation of the information security organisation at 65 percent and an information security investment plan at 64 percent.

Kim explained, "This shows customers broadly evaluated the overall crisis response, including customer protection, responsible communication, financial support and structural improvement, not just specific compensation measures."

◆Restoring corporate trust remains a task... security strengthening and follow-up need to continue

The study also found that security improvements, communication and tailored follow-up management by customer are needed to continuously restore customer trust after the incident.

The more customers knew about SKT’s response measures, the larger the recovery in trust was shown to be. Customers who had strong affection for SKT before the incident were more disappointed immediately after it, but the subsequent recovery in trust was also relatively larger.

Key factors for bringing back customers who left were cited as competitive pricing terms, objectively proven security improvement results and sufficient compensation. When asked what should be improved first if a similar incident occurs, compensation commensurate with damage ranked highest at 37 percent. It was followed by swift provision of protective measures at 32 percent, information security investment and strengthened security at 28 percent and swift notification of the incident at 25 percent.

Separately, SKT is operating a 'Customer Trust Committee' composed of 5 external experts and a 'Customer Advisory Group' composed of 100 customers after the incident. It reflects customer opinions in service improvements through a monthly 'Customer Trust Enhancement Meeting' attended by key executives.

This year, it ran a 'visiting service' programme 730 times across 87 cities and counties nationwide and communicated with about 35,000 customers. It also pursued tailored activities such as financial fraud prevention education for older people and visits to customers who have used the service for more than 40 years.

Kim said, "To restore corporate trust, swift customer protection, responsible communication and ensuring customer choice are important beyond one-off apologies or compensation." He added, "In particular, ongoing follow-up management and communication should be pursued together so customers can feel the results of security improvement."