**South Korea Police Raid E-commerce Giant Coupang Over Data Leak**
Seoul, South Korea – In a move to address one of the country's most significant data breaches in recent history, police raided the Seoul headquarters of e-commerce giant Coupang on Tuesday. The raid comes as authorities continue to investigate a massive data leak that exposed sensitive information belonging to almost two-thirds of the population.
Coupang, South Korea's most popular online shopping platform, serves millions of customers with lightning-fast deliveries of products from groceries to gadgets. However, in June this year, the company suffered a massive data leak, exposing the names, email addresses, phone numbers, shipping addresses, and some order histories of its customers. Thankfully, payment details and login credentials were not affected.
The breach is believed to have occurred through Coupang's overseas servers between June 24 and November 8. It wasn't until last month that the company became aware of the leak, prompting it to issue a complaint against an alleged culprit – a former employee who is a Chinese national. As a result of this incident, Coupang is now facing a class-action lawsuit in the United States, where its global headquarters is based.
The South Korean government has been under pressure to take swift action in addressing the data breach. Last week, President Lee Jae Myung called for penalties against those responsible for the debacle. Seoul's presidential office echoed this sentiment on Monday, demanding that Coupang provide clear measures outlining how it will compensate users who have had their data stolen.
Presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik stated, "Coupang must present clear measures outlining how it will take responsibility if damages occur." This move follows a major breach at South Korea's largest mobile carrier SK Telecom, which was fined 134 billion won (approximately $91 million) in August after a cyberattack exposed data on nearly 27 million users.
South Korea has been a frequent target of hacking by arch-rival North Korea. Police announced last year that North Korean hackers were behind the theft of sensitive data from a South Korean court computer network – including individuals' financial records – over a two-year period. Furthermore, last month, Yonhap reported that South Korean authorities suspected a North Korean hacking group may be behind the recent cyberattack on cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, which led to the unauthorized withdrawal of 44.5 billion won in digital assets.
The raid on Coupang's headquarters was conducted by 17 officers from the force's cyber investigation unit, with law enforcement vowing to "comprehensively investigate" based on the evidence obtained. As the investigation unfolds, it remains to be seen how severe the repercussions will be for Coupang and its executives.
The data leak has raised concerns about the security of online transactions in South Korea, where e-commerce is a significant sector. With the country's population heavily reliant on digital platforms, this incident highlights the need for stricter regulations and enhanced security measures to protect consumers' sensitive information.