[Edaily Reporter Yun Junghoon ] “We’re facing significant internal concerns as many employees have recently been leaving for telecom companies like LG Uplus.”

A security industry official met in Pangyo on the 13th made this statement. While major domestic information security companies are posting strong first-half results thanks to the spillover effects of a series of major hacking incidents, concerns are deepening on the ground due to “talent drain.”

The Three Major Telecom Companies in a War to Secure Security Talent... LG Corp., KTCorporation Accelerate Expansion of Security Workforces

Following a series of hacking incidents, the telecommunications industry is increasing security investments and significantly expanding its workforce. This is because the three major telecom companies (SKTelecom(017670), KTCorporation(030200), LG Uplus(032640)) are currently pursuing structural reforms centered on new businesses—such as AI data centers (AIDC), cloud services, and B2B AI solutions—moving beyond their role as mere telecommunications network providers.

According to the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) on the 13th, SKTelecom (including SK Broadband) increased its dedicated information security workforce to 526 last year—a 61.0% increase from the previous year—and significantly expanded its investment to 143.4 billion won, a 53.7% rise. KTCorporation and LGU+ also invested 127.5 billion won (+2.0%) and 96.6 billion won (+16.7%), respectively, and expanded their dedicated staff to 317 (+9.3%) and 351 (+19.0%) employees, respectively.

This year, both KT and LG Uplus are expected to further increase their actual investment and hiring scales. In fact, LG Uplus is currently conducting a wide-ranging recruitment drive for experienced professionals, including AI security specialists, endpoint and user protection specialists, and wireless network security engineers. KT is also expanding its hiring efforts, including recruiting top-tier penetration testing experts to handle company-wide system penetration tests and security assessments.

Security

Industry Posts Strong Results… ‘All-Out Effort’ to Retain Talent

The problem is that the aggressive talent acquisition drive by large corporations and telecommunications companies is exacerbating the “talent shortage” among small and medium-sized security firms in Korea.

Major domestic security firms achieved robust earnings growth in the first half of this year, driven by expanding demand for EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) and Zero Trust solutions. This growth was fueled by increasingly sophisticated hacking techniques and stricter government regulations regarding fines and disclosure requirements, which have led companies to increase their security budgets.

AHNLAB,INC. reported preliminary revenue of 130.4 billion won and operating profit of 7.3 billion won for the first half of this year (on a consolidated basis). Compared to the same period last year, revenue increased by 9.1% and operating profit by 62.3%.

GENIANS, INC. announced on the 4th that it recorded revenue of 24.92 billion won and operating profit of 4.31 billion won on a consolidated basis for the first half of this year. These figures represent increases of 19.9% and 294.3%, respectively, compared to the same period last year.

However, despite these strong results, the company is devoting significant effort to training specialized personnel and retaining them. This is because large corporations, such as telecommunications companies, are actively headhunting talent by offering high salaries, generous benefits, and abundant resources, leading to a mass exodus of core developers and engineers with 5 to 10 years of experience—who form the backbone of security firms.

A security industry insider lamented, “Although the average compensation levels at security firms have improved compared to the past, there remains a significant gap when compared to the salary increases offered when moving to large corporations or telecommunications companies.” They added, “There is a lot of work, but as skilled professionals capable of advancing our products are leaving, a vicious cycle is unfolding where the remaining employees’ workload and fatigue are increasing.”

Another official explained, “LGU+’s recent acquisition of the security firm Pago Networks was also intended to secure a large number of personnel at once,” adding, “I understand that LGU+ is also continuously hiring because, as workloads pile up, specialized personnel are leaving for other companies after negotiating higher salaries.”

Workforce Mobility Is a Natural Phenomenon... The Problem Is a Mismatch

Experts point out that this concentration of talent is a structural problem within the domestic cybersecurity industry ecosystem. Consequently, there are calls for the government to focus on training personnel to detect and investigate security threats—such as hacking—rather than those specialized in carrying out such attacks.

Kim Seung-ju, a professor at Korea University’s Graduate School of Information Security, stated, “The essence of the current security workforce shortage is not simply a lack of absolute numbers, but rather that government training programs are skewed toward the fields of attack and penetration testing.” He added, “We must resolve the supply-demand mismatch by adequately training personnel in areas essential for practical work, such as IT development, detection, and investigation.”