South Korean police probe massive data leak at Coupang

By Hyunjoo Jin and Joyce Lee

SEOUL, Dec 1 (Reuters) – South Korean police said on Monday they were tracking IP addresses and investigating possible technical vulnerabilities in e-commerce giant Coupang after it suffered the country’s worst data breach in more than a decade.

More than 33 million customers’ personal data was leaked in a breach believed to have started on overseas servers on June 24, but the company did not become aware of the problem until November 18.

South Korean Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon said on Sunday that the perpetrator “exploited authentication vulnerabilities” in Coupang’s servers, adding that authorities would investigate whether the company violated rules on protecting personal information.

Coupang, backed by Japan’s SoftBank Group, said the breach exposed customers’ names, email addresses, phone numbers, shipping addresses and certain order histories, but not payment details or login credentials.

Broadcaster JTBC reported that after conducting an internal investigation, Coupang suspected a former employee from China who was responsible for authentication duties was a key figure in the data breach.

Lawmaker Choi Min-hee said on Monday that a former employee used the authentication key that was still active after the termination of his contract to gain access to customer information.

Police and Coupang declined to comment on possible suspects.

As of Monday afternoon, online posts showed more than 10,000 people planned to join a possible class-action lawsuit against Coupang. Lawyer Ha Hee-bong said the potential class-action lawsuit could seek damages of more than 100,000 won ($68) per person.⁠

Founded in 2010 by Korean-American Harvard graduate Bom Kim, Coupang is the country’s most popular e-commerce platform. The company, which has left family companies such as Shinsegae behind in South Korean e-commerce, is also expanding in food distribution, streaming and fintech.

($1 = 1,471.0800 won)

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and Joyce Lee; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)