What comes next in Facebook’s major data breach

NEW YORK -- For users, Facebook’s revelation of a data breach that gave attackers access to 50 million accounts raises an important question: What happens next?For the owners of the affected accounts, and of another 40 million that Facebook considered at risk, the first order of business may be a simple one: sign back into the app. Facebook logged everyone out of all 90 million accounts in order to reset digital keys the hackers had stolen -- keys normally used to keep users logged in, but which

Sept. 30, 2018

Samsung BioLogics postpones transfer of Bioepis shares to US Biogen

Samsung BioLogics will transfer Samsung Bioepis’ shares to US-based biotech firm Biogen on Oct. 30, completing a call option a month later than initially planned, it said in a regulatory filing on Friday. Due to the announcement, the call option exercise price will rise from about 748.6 billion won ($675.3 million) on Sept. 28 to 757.3 billion won on Oct. 30. A BioLogics official said, “The transfer is being postponed due to administrative procedures for reporting the merging of enterprises betw

Sept. 28, 2018

Samsung, LG make top 3 in US customer satisfaction survey

South Korean home appliance makers LG and Samsung Electronics both ranked among the top three companies in a US survey on customer satisfaction, an annual report showed Friday. The annual report of the American Customer Satisfaction Index showed that LG came in second place, after Bosch, with a score of 82 out of 100 for the home appliance sector. Samsung soared from seventh place to third this year with a score of 80.  (Yonhap)LG slipped from the top spot, which it had held for three years stra

Sept. 28, 2018

[News Focus] Will Samsung stop manufacturing Galaxy phones for China?

Word is spreading that Samsung Electronics might be planning to outsource production for some of its mid- and low-end Galaxy-series phones destined for the Chinese market, industry sources said Thursday. According to some news reports, Samsung’s mobile business executives led by Executive Vice President Roh Tae-moon visited China’s Wintech, Xiaomi’s original design manufacturing branch, to discuss the possibility of manufacturing Samsung phones at Wintech’s factory. Samsung’s public relations of

Sept. 27, 2018

4 in 10 YouTube users in Korea spend more than hour per day watching videos

Four out of 10 South Korean users of YouTube spend an hour or more watching videos on the platform on a daily basis, according to survey results recently released by local pollster Embrain.Of 1,000 Korean YouTube users aged 19-59 surveyed, 42.58 percent responded that they spend at least one hour on the video platform each day. The proportion of those who were spending more than three hours on YouTube was 5.2 percent.By demographic, the majority of those who responded they were watching more tha

Sept. 27, 2018

Raonsecure’s biometrics authentication solutions obtain FIDO2 certification

South Korean cybersecurity service provider Raonsecure said Thursday that its FIDO biometrics authentication solution has received FIDO2 certification from the FIDO Alliance, an organization that standardizes and promotes interoperability among authentication devices.　Raonsecure obtained the FIDO2 certification in two categories. The company’s TouchEn OnePass system was certified for the server section while the Raon FIDO Dongle was certified in the authentication device area.TouchEn OnePass is

Sept. 27, 2018

LG vice chief heads for Poland to visit EV battery plant

Kwon Young-soo, second in command of LG Group, headed for Poland to visit an electric vehicle battery plant operated by LG Chem, according to multiple sources Wednesday.The vice chairman arrived in Wroclaw on Tuesday with LG Chem’s top executives. The group includes LG Chem‘s Energy Solution‘s President Kim Jong-hyun.Kwon’s trip appears to be part of the vice chairman’s recent moves to check out the current statuses of key businesses, they said.LG Chem built the EV battery plant in nearby Kobier

Sept. 26, 2018

Global pharma firms’ 2017 R&D investment in Korea up 5.9 percent: KRPIA

Global pharmaceutical companies operating in South Korea locally invested a combined 271 billion won ($242 million) in clinical research and development in 2017, marking a 5.9 percent increase in R&D funding from the previous year, according to the Korea Research-based Pharma Industry Association.　KRPIA is a business association consisting of the Korean units of 28 foreign pharma companies, including Allergan, Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Bayer, AstraZeneca, Novartis, Pfize

Sept. 20, 2018

Samsung in talks with Japan’s Nipro for medical device division sale

(Yonhap)Samsung Electronics is in talks with Japan’s Nipro to sell off its in-vitro diagnostic unit, as part of efforts to streamline its medical equipment business, according to the industry on Thursday. Jeon Dong-soo, president of the medical device division at Samsung, reportedly held a briefing about the sell-off plan for employees recently, the company said.An IVD refers to a medical device that diagnoses diseases by examining patients’ tissue, blood and urine. The IVD unit belongs to Samsu

Sept. 20, 2018

Kakao Pay’s QR code pay option accepted at over 100,000 stores

Kakao Pay, the mobile pay solutions unit of South Korean mobile messaging giant Kakao, said Wednesday that its QR code payment option is now available at more than 100,000 partner stores nationwide.　The feat was achieved within just three months of launching its QR pay service, Kakao Pay said. QR code pay is a mobile payment and acceptance method through which customers can make payments by scanning a QR code, instead of paying with cash or a credit or debit card. Of the merchants that have adop

Sept. 19, 2018

Riot Games opens ‘League of Legends’ esports arena in Seoul

Riot Games has opened an esports arena and culture entertainment complex for its hit online battle arena game “League of Legends” in Seoul. The US game maker said it had invested around 100 billion won ($88.9 million) in the new space, dubbed LoL Park, which is located on the third floor of the Gran Seoul building in Jongno, central Seoul. The space includes an esports arena for “League of Legends” players that can seat 400 spectators. It will host the 2018 LoL World Championship next month and

Sept. 18, 2018

KT provides telecom services for inter-Korean summit

KT Corp., South Korea’s leading wireless and fixed-line services provider, said Tuesday it has been named the official provider of telecom services for the media during the inter-Korean summit this week.Under the agreement with the summit preparation committee, KT is providing telecommunication services at the press center established in Seoul for South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s three-day trip to Pyongyang, from Sunday to Thursday, including network services for TV broadcasting, according t

Sept. 18, 2018

KakaoTalk adds ‘delete sent message’ feature, but deletion record stays

Kakao, the operator of South Korea’s most popular mobile messenger KakaoTalk, has officially adopted a new feature that lets users delete sent messages within five minutes of their delivery. The update has been applied as of Tuesday.　However, once a user deletes a message, the phrase “this message has been deleted” appears in place of the removed message on both the sender’s and receiver’s chatroom, leaving a conspicuous record of the deletion.　To delete a message, users can long-press a given m

Sept. 18, 2018

Huawei leads 5G standards with consistent R&D investment

To prepare for the upcoming commercialization of the fifth-generation network early next year, Huawei has been making sizable investments in research and development for 5G technologies, with the amount reaching some $13.2 billion last year alone, according to the company. That investment by the Shenzhen-headquartered network equipment and solutions provider equaled 14.9 percent of its annual sales. “For the next 10 years, the company will continue expanding investments -- more than $10 billion

Sept. 17, 2018

[Herald Interview] Bluehole charms global audience with mobile strategy game ‘Castle Burn’

Last year, South Korean game company Bluehole made its mark in the global gaming landscape with its hit survivor shooting game “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds,” now available on PCs, consoles and mobile devices.With aims to go beyond the success of “PUBG,” the Seoul-based game company is now out to entice gamers in the West with a mobile game in the genre of real-time strategy games: “Castle Burn.”Developed by Delusion Studio, part of the Bluehole Group, “Castle Burn” is a mobile RTS game in whic

Sept. 17, 2018

Korea to test-launch rocket in Oct.

South Korea plans to conduct the first test flight of its locally developed booster engine at the end of next month, the ICT ministry said Sunday, as part of a long-term effort to produce the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-2 (KSLV-2), a three-stage rocket.The single-stage rocket, with a 75-ton thrust engine, developed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute is set to be launched between Oct. 25 and Oct. 31 from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, the Ministry of Science and IC

Sept. 16, 2018

Dunamu unveils advanced blockchain app developer tool ‘Luniverse’

Lamda256, the blockchain research and development lab under Dunamu, operator of South Korea’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, has unveiled a blockchain app developer tool called “Luniverse,” designed as an easy decentralized app builder solution.　Luniverse is the Dunamu-owned research unit’s proprietary blockchain service development platform that lets developers build various dApps and run token economy systems in an easier and faster manner.“With Luniverse, you can build the key structure of

Sept. 16, 2018

Hit arcade game ‘Metal Slug’ to get VR makeover with KT

The globally popular arcade shooting game “Metal Slug” will be newly released as a virtual reality game this year, brought to fruition in partnership by US-based Studio Roqovan and South Korean telecommunications provider KT.KT and Studio Roqovan, developer of VR game “World War Toons,” have agreed to co-develop “World War Toons: Metal Slug VR,” and showcased a demo of the game at last week’s MWC Americas 2018, KT said Sunday.“WWT: MSVR” will combine the gameplay of first-person shooter VR actio

Sept. 16, 2018

LG chief highlights AI, big data in first visit to R&D center

LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo emphasized that his top priorities are artificial intelligence and big data technologies, at a meeting with research and development leaders of LG affiliates, the group said Thursday. The fourth-generation leader of South Korea’s fourth-biggest conglomerate made his first official visit to LG Science Park, the group’s R&D hub, in Magok, western Seoul, on Wednesday, as part of preparations for the group’s future businesses. Koo was sworn in as the chairman and CEO o

Sept. 13, 2018

[Weekender] Lucrative new world of YouTube

We are living in a world where a vast array of online videos are grabbing the eyes of everyone from toddlers to retirees. And increasingly YouTubers are making a living out of producing viral videos. The views, likes and subscribers add up, as advertisers pay to have their ads shown in such videos.“You get a certain percentage of an amount. Not only that, you are also asked to work with brands, and in other promotions YouTubers can create synergy to bring in cash from their channels,” said Yum-c

Sept. 13, 2018