Published on: July 2, 2024
KT, a South Korean telecommunications company, injected its own users with a form of malware to curb torrenting. An investigation revealed that it affected over 600,000 customers.
“Dozens of domestic websites have been shut down,” JTBC news said in a report. “The bulletin board of the webhard company was flooded with posts from users complaining of unexplained errors. Malware has invaded the grid program.”
The malware went unchecked for over five months in 2020. It led to widespread problems and unexpected errors for many Korean residents.
Investigators realized that every victim was using a KT line. They eventually traced the source of the hack back to the company and found that KT injected malware into people’s networks as a deliberate attempt to disrupt torrenting clients like BitTorrent.
The company defended itself, stating that BitTorrent is a malicious program. It also stated that the malware wasn’t outright harmful.
After four years of investigation, the CEO quit the company and 13 employees have been referred to for prosecution. In the past, KT throttled download speeds from BitTorrent, leading to lengthy lawsuits. The company has also engaged in other lawsuits over its control of its grid.
“At that time, the court ruled in favor of KT. On the grounds that KT did not pay sufficient network usage fees and did not explain the grid service to users in detail, it was considered ‘not unreasonable’ for KT to block the traffic of the web hardware company.”
However, over time, KT has continued to push the limits of what power it can exert over its monopoly-esque grid system. Investigators with the Gyeonggi Southern Police Agency continue to dig into the company under suspicion of listening to subscribers’ conversations and interfering with their network conditions.