Coupang: "No Customer Information Has Been Leaked Through Coupang... Suspected Seller Data Breach"

Suspected Sale of Coupang Customer Information
"No Unauthorized Access" Rebuttal
Estimated Delivery Information of Open Market Sellers

In response to allegations that 'Coupang customer information' was sold through the dark web last January, Coupang denied the claims, stating that "no information has been leaked through Coupang."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 20th, Coupang said, "No information has been leaked through Coupang. There has been no unauthorized access through Coupang." They explained that the mentioned customer information is presumed to be delivery information managed by open market sellers.

The information disclosed on the dark web by the hacker attempting to sell it at the time included some customer delivery information related to overseas direct purchases. It is known that company names and other details, except for delivery company information, were not included. Based on this, it is presumed to be information about orders for overseas direct purchase products through open markets, but it was explained that it was not possible to confirm through which company the orders were made.

According to the industry, in the case of open market companies that use separate delivery companies overseas, cases of hacking, selling, and leaking of purchase history or delivery information occur frequently. It is also known that some hackers extract information or create false information to attempt sales during this process.

If the hacker's claim is true, it appears that the leaked information was not from hacking Coupang but occurred during the process of delivering customer information ordered by open market sellers to delivery companies. Coupang stated, "The Coupang-related information that the hacker allegedly posted last January cannot currently be found on the related dark web, so there is no way to verify whether it is true or not."

In open markets, individual sellers are responsible for managing customer information. Even if data leakage issues occur at delivery companies entrusted by sellers, the responsibility for supervision and management lies with the sellers. Domestic open market shopping mall customer information is managed by the respective sellers according to the 'Consent to Provide Personal Information to Third Parties,' where customer information is transferred to open market sellers with the customer's consent.

A Coupang official said, "Coupang's servers and networks are secure," adding, "Coupang has never been subject to cyberattacks, and no customer information has ever been leaked."