“Trust Recovery at SKT: Sincere Response Paid Off First”

After SK Telecom experienced a large-scale cyber intrusion incident in April last year, it pushed ahead with crisis response measures. The effectiveness of that effort was explained through changes in customer evaluations.

Customers' assessment of SK Telecom's sincerity recovered 90% of the decline seen immediately after the incident, while the evaluation of its attitude toward customers recovered 81%. The company's own trust rating was analyzed to have recovered 64%.

The company judged that customers first recognized its responsible response and efforts to protect them. Based on that, the company said corporate trust then began to recover gradually.

These findings on trust recovery were presented on the 11th at the '2026 CS WISE Insight' seminar hosted by the Korea Management Association Consulting (KMAC). Professor Kim Seung-beom of Hongik University’s Department of Business Administration presented under the theme 'A Study on Customer Trust Recovery: Focusing on the SK Telecom Case' and shared the analysis results showing this level of trust recovery.

Professor Kim's study analyzed how far customer evaluations, which had declined after the incident, recovered toward pre-incident levels. The research compared trust recovery patterns by examining responses from customers who remained with SKT and those who left after the cyber intrusion, along with changes in subscriber lines.

The study covered a survey of 400 SKT customers who continued using the service, 200 customers who left, and a comprehensive analysis of line changes. The analysis focused on the basis of customers' actual evaluation of SKT's crisis response measures and on identifying factors that influenced ultra-short-term trust recovery.

The analysis found that after SK Telecom's cyber intrusion incident, customers first recognized the company's sincere response. Customer evaluation recovery was greatest in the sincerity category, while trust in the company itself was relatively low and slow to recover.

The highest recovery rate was for the company's sincerity, at 90%. It was followed by attitude toward customers at 81%, reputation among peers at 80%, and the company's capabilities at 73%.

By contrast, recovery of trust in the company itself was the slowest. The recovery rate for trust in the company itself stood at 64%.

All 11 crisis response measures taken by SKT after the incident received positive evaluations from a majority of customers. The 11 measures included customer protection, responsible communication, and improvements to the security system.

Among them, the highest-rated measure was free SIM card replacement and reconfiguration. Seventy-six percent of SKT customers who stayed with the company gave a positive assessment of the free SIM replacement and reconfiguration.

After the incident, SKT set three principles: putting customer information protection first, taking responsibility to the end for any damage, and fundamentally improving its information protection system. It also pursued customer protection, financial support, and security investment.

Professor Kim said assessments of SKT's customer protection and responsible response recovered first after the incident, but recovery in corporate trust and willingness to outsource services is relatively delayed. He added that, to recover customer trust after a crisis, the starting point of a sincere response, continuous practice, and improvement efforts need to be supported.

In evaluations by measure, positive responses were 72% for exemption from cancellation fees and refunds, and 71% for expanding the SIM protection service. The top measure cited as helping trust recovery was free SIM replacement, at 30%.

Immediately after the incident, SKT pushed ahead with free SIM replacement for all customers and expanded automatic enrollment in the SIM protection service. It also ran a 'mobile service' for customers who had difficulty visiting stores, alongside measures to ease customer inconvenience.

Evaluations of responses other than customer protection were also mostly positive. Positive ratings were 68% for daily briefings over about two months, 67% for the 50% telecom fee discount, 65% for restructuring the information protection organization, and 64% for the information security investment plan.

Professor Kim said the positive response rate for all 11 measures implemented by SKT was in the majority range, at 53% to 76%. He also explained that customers can be seen as having evaluated not only specific compensation measures but crisis response overall, including customer protection, responsible communication, financial support, and structural improvements.

The study concluded that even if SKT's crisis response is positively evaluated, follow-up conditions are needed for that effect to lead to long-term trust. As implications, it suggested steady communication, security improvements, and personalized post-care for each customer as conditions for positive evaluations of SKT's crisis response to translate into sustained customer trust. It also identified the need for continuous notice of response measures and emphasized the importance of trust recovery and post-care by customer segment.

The study found that sufficient guidance on response measures was linked to trust recovery. Customers with a higher level of awareness of SKT's crisis response measures showed a greater increase in trust recovery. Positive ratings for the daily briefings held over about two months were 68%.

The study confirmed the importance of swift customer protection. Free SIM replacement was rated by customers as the measure most helpful for trust recovery. It also confirmed the importance of guaranteeing choice, and cited cancellation fee exemptions as a measure that protected customer choice. Customers who continued using SKT rated the cancellation fee exemption as the second-best response.

The extent of disappointment and recovery also varied depending on customers' preexisting affection for the company. Customers who had high affection for SKT before the incident showed a larger degree of disappointment immediately afterward. However, those same customers also showed a greater degree of trust recovery later.

The study presented an analysis of the key factors for winning back customers after the incident, along with evaluations of SKT's crisis response. The key factors for customer return after the incident were competitive pricing, objective proof of security improvements, and sufficient compensation.

Overall evaluations of SKT's crisis response were positive. However, some concerns related to the long-term risks of leaked information were also identified.

For priorities in the event of a similar incident, compensation commensurate with the damage ranked highest at 37%. It was followed by prompt provision of protective measures at 32%, investment in information protection and stronger security at 28%, and swift notice of the incident at 25%.

Professor Kim said the conditions for trust recovery should not be limited to a simple apology or one-time compensation, but should combine swift customer protection, responsible communication, and respect for customer choice.

Professor Kim said that, in order to turn positive evaluations into lasting trust, it is important to make security improvements tangible to customers and to carry out ongoing post-care and reassurance efforts in parallel.

Source: TECHWORLD · Lee Kwang-jae
Original: https://www.epnc.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=409649

References

• https://www.epnc.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=409649