SANDS Lab CEO Kim Ki-hong: 'Our data and technology will contribute to sovereign AI; we are ready for a rebound'

SANDS Lab CEO Kim Ki-hong: 'Our data and technology will contribute to sovereign AI; we are ready for a rebound'

▲ SANDS Lab CEO Kim Ki-hong said the sovereign AI era could present an opportunity for the company. <SANDS Lab>

“We expect SANDS Lab's data and technology to be used in some way in the era of sovereign AI.”

According to SANDS Lab CEO Kim Ki-hong on the 29th, the company has potential in sovereign AI, an area being promoted by the current administration.

As the AI industry takes off worldwide, countries are developing their own sovereign AI. The Lee Jae-myung administration has also made it one of its priorities.

SANDS Lab holds the largest collection of cyber threat data in Asia. In particular, it has accumulated the most information on malware that has actually appeared in Korea and attacks originating from North Korea.

It therefore has localized datasets essential to Korea's sovereign AI. It is also in its fifth year of working with the Korea Internet & Security Agency to build cybersecurity AI datasets.

SANDS Lab plans to use these datasets to contribute to sovereign AI development while also actively pursuing international expansion.

“In the future, we plan to use cloud deployment and lightweight designs to bring AI security technology to electric vehicles, smart mobility and all industrial equipment containing semiconductors.”

SANDS Lab recently introduced IDPW, a personal information leakage notification service. IDPW is an enterprise subscription service that notifies individual employees whenever a hacking attempt is made against them.

“Given recent malware trends, it is impossible to block every attack, no matter how much security is strengthened. Preventive notification services such as IDPW are therefore effective.”

SANDS Lab has already integrated IDPW with Toss and plans to continue expanding its platform partnerships.

“In particular, since the SK Telecom hacking incident, we have continued to receive partnership inquiries from financial, telecommunications and e-commerce companies holding large customer databases. This shows that companies are beginning to view IDPW as an essential security service rather than a simple add-on.”

▲ Kim said the company had completed all preparations for a rebound. <SANDS Lab>

Kim said he had personally felt a sharp increase in interest in AI security over the past two years.

Around 2022–2023, when SANDS Lab was preparing for and completing its listing, even AI itself was still unfamiliar to the market, let alone AI security.

As a result, when the company presented its future strategy based on the AI security technology it had developed, many questioned whether it was too far ahead of the market.

“Today, everyone across the industry is talking about AI security, and AI research and development has become a core priority. SANDS Lab had already established a dedicated AI department and was conducting R&D before its listing. The results accumulated through that work became our core technologies today.”

Finally, Kim acknowledged investors' concerns about the current earnings slump and share-price decline, but said the company should be able to pursue a turnaround.

“It was only this year that we properly established our sales organization and began full-scale sales activities. In the security business, preliminary validation conducted this year generally leads to contracts and revenue being included in next year's budgets. This year is therefore a preparation stage, and tangible results should begin to emerge in earnest next year.”

SANDS Lab was listed under Korea's special listing provisions for technology companies. Its value is underpinned not simply by short-term revenue growth but by continued development of innovative technologies and the securing of core technologies.

“Rather than judging SANDS Lab today solely by its losses or assuming it lacks technological capability, I believe it is more accurate to view this as a transition period for advancing our technology and establishing our market position. We will consistently demonstrate how our technological competitiveness and sales capabilities combine to deliver results. I believe this will be an important turning point that strengthens SANDS Lab's long-term value and credibility.”