Interpark Personal Information Leak Incident, Court Orders "Compensate 100,000 Won Each"

Only 100,000 KRW of the 300,000 KRW Claim for Damages Recognized as Compensation

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] A court ruling has ordered Interpark to compensate affected members with 100,000 KRW each for the personal information leak incident.

According to the legal community on the 1st, the Seoul Central District Court Civil Division 30 (Presiding Judge Han Seongsu) ruled partially in favor of the plaintiffs in a damages lawsuit filed by 2,400 Interpark members.

In May 2016, Interpark suffered a hacking attack on its internal network, resulting in the leakage of personal information of over 10 million members. Not only IDs and passwords but also key personal information such as names, gender, and phone numbers were leaked.

The court recognized only 100,000 KRW per person out of the claimed 300,000 KRW as compensation.

The court stated, "Although it was aware that personal information had been leaked, notification was only made 14 days later, causing the loss of an opportunity to respond promptly to the leak," and ruled, "There is no evidence that additional legal interests were harmed due to the personal information leak."

Meanwhile, Interpark was fined 4.48 billion KRW in administrative fines and 25 million KRW in penalties by the Korea Communications Commission due to the member information leak incident. Interpark filed an administrative lawsuit against this but was finally defeated by the Supreme Court in March.