Court Recognizes 'Yogiotte' Liability for Damages Over Customer Data Leak Due to Hacking

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] A court ruling has recognized the liability for damages to customers affected by a hacking incident that leaked customer information from the operator of 'Yeo-gi-eo-ddae'.

According to the legal community on the 30th, the Civil Division 21 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Kang Min-seong) issued a partial ruling in favor of the plaintiffs in a damages claim lawsuit filed by 312 users of Yeo-gi-eo-ddae against Yeo-gi-eo-ddae Company the day before.

The court acknowledged compensation amounts ranging from 50,000 to 400,000 KRW per person depending on the extent of each plaintiff's damage. Claims from 12 plaintiffs who failed to prove information leakage damages were dismissed or rejected.

The court judged that Yeo-gi-eo-ddae was responsible for failing to implement technical protective measures on the personal information processing system server. The hacking attack on Yeo-gi-eo-ddae could have been prevented if only 'basic protective measures' had been in place, but the company neglected this duty.

The court pointed out, "Accommodation reservation information is highly sensitive personal information related to users' private lives," and added, "Users suffered considerable damage due to the leakage of personal information."

Yeo-gi-eo-ddae was hacked in March 2017, resulting in the leakage of reservation details and personal information of approximately 970,000 users. The leaked information included room names, reservation dates, check-in and check-out times, and phone numbers.

Hackers used this information to send over 4,000 threatening and obscene messages to users and posted 5,000 pieces of personal information on social media (SNS).

In response, the affected users filed a class-action lawsuit demanding between 1,000,000 and 3,000,000 KRW per person in damages.