South Korea: Data of two-thirds of the population accessed at online retailer
An employee, who no longer works for Coupang, is said to have accessed data of the entire customer base at South Korea's largest online retailer.
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At South Korea's largest online retailer, a former employee has apparently accessed personal data of more than 33 million customers and fled the country. This is reported by the Korea Times, adding that it likely concerns Coupang's entire customer base. When the data leak was first made public two weeks ago, there was talk of only 4500 affected accounts. The massive cybersecurity incident was reportedly caused by an employee with Chinese citizenship, who is said to have started five months ago. He has since left the company and is no longer in South Korea.
Breach unnoticed for almost half a year
According to the report, the names, email, and delivery addresses, and in some cases, the purchase history of probably all customers of the market leader in South Korea, were accessed. Only about 52 million people live in the country, so the responsible person could have data for a disproportionately large majority of households. However, information on payments, credit card numbers, and login data was not accessed, Coupang has assured. The CEO has publicly apologized. The breach is said to have begun on June 24 and occurred via unauthorized access through servers abroad.
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According to the Korea Times, the cybersecurity incident could be the largest in South Korea in decades and likely the largest in the country's history. Coupang is the country's largest online retailer. It is characterized by rapid delivery: more than 99 percent of orders are delivered within 24 hours. However, there has also been criticism of working conditions at the company for years. According to the Korea Times, more than 20 people have died at work there since 2020. The incident, now made public, has been reported to the responsible authorities, and the police have launched investigations. The government is also examining whether security regulations have been violated.
(mho)
