Cybersecurity stocks soar amid outcry over sexual deepfakes

Courtesy of The TJX Companies Inc.

South Korean cybersecurity stocks surged Wednesday morning after media reports that sexually explicit deepfake images and videos of South Korean female students and young girls were found in Telegram chatrooms.

Shares of database security firm Sinsiway Co. surged to the biggest hit at 8,590 won ($6.53) a share. Other companies in the sector also saw significant gains, including DigiCAP, Cubox, Secucen Co., and RaonSecure Co.

The surge in the stocks comes as sexual crimes involving deepfake images and videos have become a significant social issue following a media report that AI-generated pornographic images of a female college were shared.

Similar sexual deepfakes of female university as well as high and middle school students were found in Telegram chatrooms. The victims reportedly include middle and high school students across more than 100 schools in the country as well as female teachers and military personnel.

For its part, shares of Korean beauty tech stock APR saw a more than 6 percent increase in early trading on Wednesday after it announced its partnership with global retail giant TJX Companies, Inc. to expand its North America.

APR was trading at 267,500 won a share, up 6.15 percent from the previous day. The company said it inked an agreement with TJX Companies to supply four MediCube skincare products and AGE-R beauty devices.

TJX Companies, a major North American retailer, runs around 5,000 stores in nine countries, including the United States and Canada, under its umbrella brands TJ Maxx.