While some company leaks appear to be accidental or at least unintentional, others are deliberate. A few weeks ago, following a few ChatGPT-related leaks, Samsung made a new rule to prevent employees from using the generative AI, as sensitive data entered into its database becomes public knowledge. Now, however, the company experienced another technology leak. And this time, it appears to have been premeditated.
Industry sources cited by Business Korea say that Samsung DS (Device Solutions) dismissed an engineer on grounds that they were leaking documents related to core Samsung technologies.
According to reports, the engineer sent dozens of company documents, some related to core semiconductor technology, to a personal external email account. Furthermore, the engineer reportedly forwarded some of this data to yet another external email account, presumably for secondary storage.
Samsung has warned everyone against leaks
Following this core leak incident, Samsung Electronics requested an investigation from the national authorities. Furthermore, Samsung reportedly sent a company-wide notice on its internal network, reminding everyone of the gravity of technology leaks and the penalties for such actions that are currently in place.
Previously, another Samsung engineer who was planning to work for a different company overseas was caught storing photos of his PC screen as he was working remotely from home. The photos contained critical core technology data. The engineer was arrested and sentenced to one and a half years in prison.
In other news, even after the recent ChatGPT leaks, Samsung still wants to give employees powerful AI tools to ease their work. And reportedly, Samsung partnered with Naver to create an in-house generative AI exclusive to the company and its workers. It's not a public AI chatbot like ChatGPT, Bing, and Bard, but one that would not leave the company's internal network. It will know a lot about Samsung's semiconductor technologies and have access to other sensitive information. Thus, Samsung's in-house AI will be capable of assisting employees in writing code and performing other tasks that require knowledge of the company's secrets.
