The “Number Protection Service” offers a device with an LCD screen displaying a random phone number with a “050” prefix. (image: SK Broadband)
SEOUL, Oct. 31 (Korea Bizwire) – Like any other big cities in the world, parking is a serious problem in Seoul due to shortage of parking lots and drivers are struggling to find a spot for their cars even for just a short time.
Sometimes, the drivers have no other options except for double parking or parking in prohibited places. In that case, it is largely considered a parking etiquette to place the driver’s phone number to make fast move of the car for other vehicles.
However, the phone numbers placed inside the windshield of the cars can be collected and used in other ways such as spam messages, voice phishing, stalking or prank calls. To prevent such misuses of the drivers’ phone numbers, SK Broadband rolled out a special security solution connecting callers to drivers while protecting their real phone numbers.
The “Number Protection Service” by the second-largest broadband Internet service provider in Korea offers a device with an LCD screen displaying a random phone number with a “050” prefix. When a caller makes a phone call to the number displayed on the device, the service diverts the phone call to the real number of the driver.
In this way, the caller cannot know the real phone number of the driver and the real number can be kept secured. The pseudo phone number in the display is being changed randomly in every one hour which disables the caller to make the call again to the driver later with the 050 phone number.
The driver can register up to three pre-determined phone numbers and if the first number cannot be reached, the service links to other numbers in order of preference. SK Broadband aims to spread the service as sales promotional gifts for replacement driver service companies, insurance companies, auto dealers as the service can offer ringback tone services which can be used as corporate PR tools.
Ko Young-ho, head of Corporate Business Planning HQ at SK Broadband, said, “The Number Protection Service is a proprietary patent-pending security service of SK Broadband. The service can securely keep the private information of driver and can be used as promotional gifts and freebies for companies at the same time.”
By John Choi (johnchoi@koreabizwire.com)
