SEOUL– E-commerce giant Coupang said on Thursday that a personal data breach affected information linked to more than 165,000 customer accounts, stemming from a security incident first identified in November last year.
The company said the leaked information included customer names, phone numbers, and delivery addresses entered in shipping address lists. Coupang said it has notified affected users in line with guidance from South Korea’s personal information protection authorities.
The disclosure comes as Coupang faces heightened scrutiny over a much larger data breach revealed in November, which authorities estimate may have impacted nearly 33 million users in South Korea. The incident prompted a government investigation and has raised questions over the accuracy of the company’s internal findings.
Coupang said the newly identified data exposure is not a separate incident but is linked to the November breach. Previously, the company stated that data from about 3,000 accounts had been compromised, a figure that regulators have disputed.
Authorities are now examining the reliability of Coupang’s internal investigation, suspecting that more than 30 million accounts may have been affected. Government officials have criticized the company’s assessment as incomplete and one-sided.
Earlier, Coupang’s interim chief executive officer, Harold Rogers, underwent roughly 12 hours of police questioning over allegations of obstructing the investigation by destroying evidence related to the breach. Rogers declined to comment to reporters on whether he admitted to the charges or planned to leave the country.
Separately, legal scrutiny has extended to one of Coupang’s affiliates. Chung Jong-chul, chief executive officer of Coupang Fulfillment Services, the company’s logistics unit, was questioned by a special counsel team as a suspect in a dispute involving alleged unpaid severance pay for employees.
The investigations underscore growing regulatory pressure on Coupang as authorities continue to probe data security practices and broader compliance issues at the company. (Source: IANS)
