More than 30 million customer personal information records have been leaked from Coupang due to a hacking incident. However, payment information and login credentials were not compromised.
On November 29, Coupang announced that 33.7 million customer accounts had been confirmed to have their personal information exposed.
Previously, Coupang revealed that on November 6 at 6:38 p.m., there was unauthorized access to its account information, which was detected 12 days later on November 18 at 10:52 p.m. At that time, Coupang confirmed that the personal information of 4,500 customers had been leaked without authorization, but subsequent investigations uncovered additional victims.
Coupang stated, "According to our investigation so far, it is presumed that unauthorized access to personal information occurred via overseas servers starting from June 24 of this year." The company added, "We have now blocked the unauthorized access route and strengthened internal monitoring."
Coupang also noted, "We immediately reported the incident to the relevant authorities, including the National Police Agency, Korea Internet & Security Agency, and the Personal Information Protection Commission."
The information exposed includes names, email addresses, shipping addresses, and shipping phone numbers. However, Coupang stated that payment information, credit card numbers, and login credentials were not exposed.
Nevertheless, as the exposure of personal information was extensive and the number of affected accounts was identified belatedly, consumer concerns remain high.
The number of accounts with unauthorized exposure of personal information announced by Coupang this time appears to represent the vast majority of Coupang customers. While the total number of Coupang members has not been disclosed, as of the third quarter, there were 24.7 million active customers in the product commerce segment (customers with purchase history). The number of paid Coupang Wow members was reported to be 14 million as of the end of 2023.
In addition, Coupang stated that it has brought in security experts to conduct the investigation and is continuously cooperating with law enforcement and regulatory authorities.
The company added, "We sincerely apologize for all concerns caused by this incident and urge customers to be cautious of phone calls, text messages, or other communications impersonating Coupang."
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