Lotte Chemical Increases Information Security Investment by 30%... Largest Growth Among Four Major Chemical Companies

30% Increase Year-on-Year, Largest Among Four Major Chemical Companies
IT Investment Reaches 31.3 Billion Won, Dedicated Workforce Expanded
The Only Chemical Company to Boost Both Investment and Personnel

Lotte Chemical is accelerating efforts to strengthen its security competitiveness by significantly increasing its investment in information security and expanding its dedicated workforce. Among major chemical companies, it has made the largest increase in such investments.

According to the information security disclosure by the Korea Internet & Security Agency on June 29, Lotte Chemical's information security investment for 2026 amounts to 2.67 billion won, a 30.0% increase compared to the previous year's 2.05 billion won. Its information technology (IT) investment also increased by 24.9%, from 31.36 billion won to 39.18 billion won. As a result, the proportion of information security investment relative to IT investment expanded from 6.5% to 6.8%.

The number of dedicated information security personnel also increased. The number rose by 28.0%, from 5 in 2025 to 6.4 in 2026, and the proportion of information security staff relative to total IT staff increased from 6.9% to 7.9%. Although the total number of executives and employees decreased from 4,796.3 to 4,467.7 during the same period, the number of information security personnel was further expanded.

This year, Lotte Chemical has mainly strengthened email monitoring and replaced its PC media control (DLP) solution. Last year, the company invested in building an integrated login analysis system and a VDI system (virtual desktop infrastructure).

A Lotte Chemical official stated, "Rather than being a one-off measure in response to a specific security incident or separate directive, we are continuously making investments in line with an environment where hacking threats are becoming more sophisticated and information leakage risks are increasing," adding, "Recently, as hacking cases have occurred across various industries such as telecommunications, there is a heightened group-wide interest in information security."

Among the four major chemical companies, Lotte Chemical was the only one to increase both its investment and dedicated workforce. LG Chem increased its information security investment by 8.0% year-on-year, but its dedicated workforce decreased by 10.4%. Kumho Petrochemical reduced its information security investment by 4.5% and maintained the same two dedicated personnel as the previous year. Hanwha Solutions saw decreases of 15.9% and 11.0% in its information security investment and dedicated workforce, respectively.

A Hanwha Solutions official explained, "We are in the process of overall business downsizing through paid-in capital increases and self-rescue plans," adding, "As business divestitures and restructuring are underway, information security investment and dedicated personnel have also been naturally adjusted in line with changes in company size."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.