South Korea-based LG Uplus committed to tripling its cybersecurity budget, setting up a monitoring committee and hiring experts to beef up customer data protections, following breaches earlier in the year.

CEO Hwang Hyeon-sik issued an apology and pledged to invest KRW100 billion ($76.9 million) annually to improve its data security capabilities.

After detailing a cyber-safety innovation plan aimed at restoring customer trust, Hwang stated: “I am well aware network and information security are the basis of the telecommunications business.”

The operator will replace USIM cards for all customers to regain their confidence, he said.

A cyberattack in early January exposed data from about 290,000 subscribers, The Korea Herald reported.

The operator said financial information was not leaked, but hackers gained access to customer names, phone numbers, addresses, birth dates and email addresses.

Its network also was disrupted in January and February by suspected distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.